Dr. Michael Oren will be Israel's next ambassador to the United States, the Foreign Ministry announced over the weekend. He will replace current ambassador Salai Meridor, who announced his resignation several weeks ago. Oren will arrive in Washington within several weeks, around the time Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visits the U.S.
Oren, an American immigrant to Israel, is currently a fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. As a dual U.S-Israeli citizen, he will be required to give up his American citizenship before taking the post. He has authored several bestselling books, and has said on several occasions that the only way for Israel to survive as a Jewish state is to remove most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria outside the security fence. Speaking at Georgetown University last month, Oren was quoted as saying that "The only alternative for Israel to save itself as a Jewish state is by unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank and evacuating most of the settlements."