Deputy Minister Michael Oren recounted the overwhelming opposition he faced from the Obama administration over Israeli building in Jerusalem during the period that he had served as Israel's Ambassador to the United States.
"The American policy of opposing any building over the 1967-lines persisted. During my period as ambassador from 2009 to 2014, it reached a zenith, or a nadir, if you will. 'Not a single brick' was official American policy," Michael Oren told a rapt audience at the "Salute to Jerusalem" Arutz Sheva Conference on Tuesday.
"I was summoned, not invited, to the State Department, and you do not want to be summoned if you are an ambassador anywhere, and I was excoriated repeatedly whenever Israel would build anything in Jerusalem where the majority of the Jewish population lived," continued Oren.
"Over 600,000 Jews over what they would call the 1967 lines. I was summoned to the State Department to be dressed down for the demolitions, get this, for the demolitions of two outhouses illegally built in French Hill," remembered Oren.
"A situation was created where Jews can build legally in only some parts of the city, while Arabs could build anywhere in the city, even illegally. When Israel tried to demolish illegally built structures, we were excoriated and condemned for illegally demolishing buildings."