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Oren to Robertson: President Trump is Exploiting Obama's Failed Middle East Policies

CBN

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President Trump is taking advantage of a unique moment in Middle East history by visiting Saudi Arabia and Israel this week, an Israeli government official told CBN News.

For the first time in 70 years, Saudi Arabia shares common cause with the Jewish State on issues affecting peace and security in the region and it's largely due to the failed policies of former president Barack Obama, Michael Oren said in an exclusive interview with CBN Founder Pat Robertson.

Watch the full interview on Monday's 700 Club at 10 am and 11 pm ET on the Free Form channel.

Oren was Israel's ambassador to the U.S. during the Obama administration. He now serves as Deputy Minister for Diplomacy in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

"It may sound politically controversial to say this, but the previous president, Barack Obama, tried to bring Israeils and Arabs closer together through peace. He didn't succeed, he brought us together through common concern about his policies, particularly the Iranian nuclear deal," Oren said.

Critics of Obama's deal with Iran point out that it does not prevent the Shiite Muslim nation from developing nuclear weapons, posing a direct threat to Saudi Arabia, the heart of Sunni Islam in the Arab world, and to the Jewish state of Israel.

Iran may be the single largest threat to the two nations, but they see common views on other threats, Oren said.
   
"We agree on Iran, of course, we agree on Syria, we agree on ISIS, we agree on the Muslim Brotherhood, we agree on Hamas, we may even agree on the Palestinians issue," he said. "So, this is a unique moment for Israel and I think that President Trump is taking advantage of this moment and emphasizing its uniqueness by traveling first to Saudi Arabia and then to Israel."

Israelis are also grateful that the president is visiting their nation on his first Middle East trip, something Obama did not do.

The prospect of a new relationship and cooperation between Israel and the Arab world could lead to lasting peace with the Palestinians, Oren hopes.

"It's interesting, in the past we thought that maybe peace with the Palestinians would bring about peace with the Arab world and now maybe just the opposite is true: maybe peace with the Arab world could maybe bring about peace with the Palestinians," he said.

Israel's enemies aren't only in the Arab world; just last week the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said there's a strong ant-Israel bias at and the United Nations and the body has become the main instrument for attempts to undermine the Jewish State.

Last year, the Obama administration failed to veto a UN resolution that said land Israel captured in the 1967 war is "occupied territory."

Oren said Israel and its allies needs to stand strong in the face of such attempts to deligitimize the country.

"The U.S. has been very generous to us in helping us with an anti-ballistic system known as Iron Dome, we need a diplomatic Iron Dome to protect us from attempts to deligitimize us, to deny the right to defend ourselves or even our right to exist as a Jewish state," he said.

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