Ex-ambassador to US Michael Oren said joining Kahlon
US-born former envoy, considered an ally of Netanyahu, to join new Kulanu party, TV report claims
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, has joined forces with Moshe Kahlon and added his name to the Kulanu party list, Channel 2 news reported Friday.
The US-born Oren, 55, a historian and author, was appointed to the Washington post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and served as ambassador from 2009-2013.
His readiness to join ex-Likud minister and now Netanyahu rival Kahlon was thus seen as a surprise, the TV report said.
A Channel 2 poll published Thursday suggested that Netanyahu’s Likud party would win 23 seats in the March 17 elections, one seat fewer than the new Labor-Hatnua alliance agreed this week by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni. Former Likud minister Kahlon’s Kulanu could win 10-13 seats, several recent polls suggest, including by attracting traditional Likud voters.
The New York-born Oren immigrated to Israel in 1979. He served as a paratrooper in the Lebanon War, is a bestselling author and historian with a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton, and has taught and lectured widely including as a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown.