MK Michael Oren. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by Anne Mandlebaum.

JNS.org – Member of Knesset Michael Oren (Kulanu), the deputy minister for diplomacy in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Israel’s former US ambassador, said Monday that he disagrees with some who believe the forthcoming Donald Trump administration “spells the end of the two-state solution.”

Oren’s comments came during a gathering of international press in Jerusalem at the Jewish Media Summit, which was organized by the Israeli Government Press Office, the Ministry of Diaspora and the Foreign Ministry.

Oren and several other Israeli leaders — including Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, and Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) — answered questions from Israeli and foreign journalists during separate sessions.

Bennett and Oren were asked what the Trump administration would mean for Israel. Oren said, “We don’t know entirely, we see possibilities…possibly moving the US embassy to Jerusalem…the will to stand up to the Iranians.” Oren added that President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump share similar policies on “America’s place in the world,” noting that Trump favors isolationism.

“Some say that the advent of the Trump administration spells the end of the two-state solution, but I disagree,” Oren said.

Bennett said that with a Republican in the White House, Israel will set the course in its relationship with America.

“The question is not Donald Trump, it’s Benjamin Netanyahu and what the prime minister will ask for,” Bennett said, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to work with a Republican US president, as well as Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

Editor’s note: This story initially reported that Michael Oren said that the future Trump administration spells the end of the two-state solution. The story has been updated following a clarification from the politician.