Michael Oren is an American-born Israeli historian and author of several best selling books. A former paratrooper who saw combat in the 1982 war in Lebanon, he’s held a number of positions in the Israeli government, and is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based think tank that includes some of Israel’s top scholars and public figures (Since this interview he’s also served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States and as a member of the Israeli Knesset).