Exclusive — Michael Oren: Report of Antisemitism at State Department 'No Surprise'

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said the bombshell revelation by former Trump envoy to Israel, David Friedman, that he was told by the State Department to “tone down” his Jewishness came as “no surprise,” but was like telling a Muslim ambassador to Cairo, “don’t be too Muslim.”

In his new memoir, Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, Friedman reveals how State Department officials, including then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, opposed several pro-Israel measures, including fulfilling a campaign promise made by Donald Trump to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

When it emerged that Friedman wanted to make a stop at the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, after arriving in Israel, he was warned by his colleagues at the State Department, “Mr. Ambassador, don’t be so Jewish.”

Friedman cites one senior official as saying: “Don’t be so Jewish. You represent the United States of America. Tone down the Judaism in your work.”

Oren, who was Israel’s envoy to the U.S. during the rocky Obama-Netanyahu years, said the remarks made to Friedman “came as no surprise.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) is greeted by Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Udi Shani (2nd R), Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren (C), U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro (2nd L) and Israel’s Defence Attache to the U.S. Maj. Gen. Yaakov Ayash (L) after disembarking from a plane on his arrival on April 21, 2013 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv via Getty Images)

“I worked with the State Department for years. And before that, I studied it, I even wrote my thesis on it,” Oren told Breitbart.

Oren went on to say that for many years, the State Department was “judenrein,” referencing a Nazi term to mean free of Jews. Former President Harry Truman even called out the State Department for its antisemitism, Oren noted.

In recent years, even though Jews have a much stronger representation at the State Department – even disproportionately so – espousing openly Jewish loyalties would not be something to be readily abided, Oren said.

“The State Department wouldn’t be sympathetic to David, who’s an orthodox Jew who speaks openly about God,” Oren said.

“David broke the mold.” Oren added.

“But telling him to tone down his Jewishness? Well that’s like telling the ambassador to the Holy ‘See in Vatican City, ‘don’t be too Catholic.’”

“Or else telling the Muslim Ambassador to Cairo, ‘Don’t be too Muslim. It would never be said,” Oren concluded.

Friedman recollects his angry response to the unnamed official: “Do you think I am under any disillusion as to who I represent? I’m not a politically correct person but I have to ask you, why do the laws of political correctness not apply to Jews?”

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