Bari Weiss of the Wall Street Journal reviews Michael Oren's new book “Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide” in The Book Reader.
When most diplomats write their memoirs about their time in the halls of power, the events they recount are ancient history, the controversies they recall long settled.
None of that is the case of Michael Oren's powerful new book “divide,” which is why it's already raced to the top of Amazon's bestseller list despite being published only this week.
Mr. Oren served as Israel's ambassador to Washington between 2009 and 2013, a time of tremendous upheaval in the Middle East. Revolutions shook Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. Just north of Israel, civil war unleashed rivers of blood in Syria. Iran raced toward a nuclear weapon, threatening to annihilate the Jewish state. Peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians stalled. And throughout it all, the relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was icy on a good day.
All of these issues remain live ones, which is why Mr. Oren's book is essential reading for anyone that cares about the Middle East and the special relationship between America and Israel.
Mr. Oren's job was to bridge the divides between the democracies, but that job proved extremely difficult. He describes a White House that often kept Jerusalem in the dark, an administration that doesn't seem to get the threats the Jewish state faces. “I had to swear that American and Israeli leaders were on the same page regarding Iran, when in reality they often worked from different books,” he writes.
The Obama administration has attacked the book and its author. Dan Shapiro, America's ambassador to Israel, called it “an imaginary account of what happened” and accused Mr. Oren of ginning up controversy because he “wants to sell books.” The State Department belittled Mr. Oren's importance, suggesting the book is false because the ambassador was shut out of the main events.
Mr. Oren is a respected scholar. Accuracy is his coin, and he has long been considered a fair and centrist voice in a conversation with few of them. Perhaps that's why the White House and its supporters are so worried--and why they've inadvertently driven the book to the top of the charts.