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Oren's Obama-bashing

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his associates have been forced to speak out about the attack by their colleague, Knesset member and former Ambassador Michael Oren, on President Barack Obama.

Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren speaks to Reuters TV during an interview in Washington, February 24, 2010. Oren told Reuters if negotiations resume after being frozen for more than a year they would start as indirect "proximity talks," with U.S. envoy George Mitchell shuttling between the sides. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang   (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS HEADSHOT) - RTR2AUP2
Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren speaks to Reuters TV during an interview in Washington, DC, Feb. 24, 2010. — REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

While this article was being penned, the staff of Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon waited for the next article by their fellow party member, Knesset member Michael Oren. Overnight, former Ambassador Oren has become the latest troublemaker on the White House-Jerusalem front, simultaneously managing to get himself into hot water with the US administration and his political patron in Israel, who has disavowed what Oren wrote.

The spokesperson for Oren, who is on a lecture tour in the United States, informed the party simply that he wrote three articles. The first two have caused a major uproar. “Go figure what to expect in the third article,” said some of Kahlon’s people on condition of anonymity. “He’s acting like he's lost it. It’s hard to believe that we are talking about an experienced diplomat who spent four years as a highly successful ambassador in Washington,” they added.

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