Martin Indyk took leave from the Brookings Institution to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli–Palestinian Negotiations from 2013 to 2014. Indyk served as United States ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Clinton Administration. He is known as the framer of the U.S. policy of dual containment which sought to ‘contain’ Iraq and Iran, which were both viewed as the United States’ two most important strategic adversaries at the time.
This confrontation between Michael Oren and Martin Indyk is eerily like a typical Fox “debate” — with one exception. Instead of discussing ways to build trust with the US, Oren stoops low ..claiming that Indyk is a scripted talking head for Obama. The exception? Fareed Zakaria is no Bill O’Reilly, so the debate could not degenerate into Oren and the host talking over Martin Indyk.
This is not the only time the former Israeli Ambassador to the US has behaved this way. He is most infamous for charges that Obama is somehow a muslim. In this appearance, Oren diverts efforts by Fareed Zakaria to get a discussion of Iran by Indyk, Obama’s envoy to Israel for the talks with Iran. Instead Oren has a magazine of bulleted talking points ..not about Iran.