The Jewish Week quotes Atlantic Council Ambassador-in-Residence Michael Oren on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas:
“We need more time and space,” former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told The Jewish Week on Tuesday, noting that it took Israel two weeks to destroy about 60 percent of what Prime Minister Netanyahu calls the “death tunnels.” He said additional time is needed to finish the job. “Israel is trying to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas and it appears that the U.S. is focused on trying to stop the fighting,” he said.
The immediate U.S.-Israel disagreement is part of what Oren called “a more fundamental difference of world views,” like the fact that Qatar and Turkey are allies of the U.S. and hostile toward Israel. Also, the U.S. is trying mightily to avoid becoming engaged in further overseas military operations, in the wake of its experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Israel does not have the option of enduring hostile attacks on its population without striking back.
“Israel needs a Kissingerian view that military actions are sometimes an important ancillary to diplomacy,” according to Oren, currently a fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and the Atlantic Council.