Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. suddenly couldn't hear MSNBC anchor – or could he? – when she asked about Israel's eavesdropping on John Kerry

Michael Oren may have feigned technical difficulties in order to escape a tough interview question

Asked 'Can you still hear us in Tel Aviv?' he answered, 'I'm in Tel Aviv,' before claiming his audio feed was dead

The German newsweekly Der Spiegel reported Monday that Israeli intelligence services eavesdropped on Secretary of State John Kerry's phone calls last year as he tried to broker a Middle East peace deal



It was either a technical snafu or a masterful bit of diplomatic showmanship, but either way former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren escaped a question Monday about his nation's reported eavesdropping on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Appearing on MSNBC via live remote from Tel Aviv, the career diplomat spent most of his interview complaining about America's responses to Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

But then Mitchell shifted gears.

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Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren suddenly lost communications with MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell at the very moment she asked him a tough question about Israel's eavesdropping on Secretary of State John Kerry

Deer in the headlights: Oren said he had no audio feed but answered 'I'm in Tel Aviv' when Mitchell asked, 'Can you still hear us in Tel Avia?'

'I just have to ask you very briefly, in ten seconds,' she said: 'Were you aware of any eavesdropping on John Kerry by Israeli intelligence?'

After a deer-in-the-headlights moment complete with eye-blinks, he said, 'Andrea, I cannot hear you, I’m sorry.'

'Michael Oren,' she asked, 'can you still hear us? In Tel Aviv?'

'I'm in Tel Aviv,' he answered – a response that suggests he could hear her after all.

But then , with a hand to his earpiece , Oren insisted that 'I cannot hear you. I'm sorry,' .



'Okay,' Mitchell said, wrapping up. 'We'll clarify that later. Thank you very much.'



According to a report published Monday in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel, Israeli intelligence services wiretapped Kerry and spied on his conversations in 2013 as he was trying to piece together a peace agreement with negotiating partners in the region.

Some of his calls, according to Der Spiegel, 'were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite.'

'Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls.'

Kerry's failed negotiations in 2013 added strain to an already worrisome relationship between the U.S. and Israel as Kerry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were increasingly at odds.

Secure comms? Kerry spoke with Netanyahu from Cairo on July 25, 2014 but reportedly used unencrypted lines in Israel last year -- making it easy for intelligence services to spy on his conversations

Video Source MSNBC

Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror group claiming to represent Palestinians' interests, has lobbed hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent weeks, and the Jewish state responded with a ground incursion into Gaza.

Israel dismantled or destroyed dozens of 'terror tunnels' in the process, reportedly crippling Hamas' ability to strike inside Israeli territory.

Oren, now free from the constraints of his former diplomatic station, expressed disappointment with what he said was a lack of support from the U.S.



'I personally expect more from our allies, particularly the United States,' he told Mitchell before his audio feed went on the blink, 'to understand that we are in a desperate struggle with a terrorist group.'

Hamas, Oren said, 'is using the civilian population as a human shield [and] is trying to destroy this country, an ally of the United States – in fact, an organization that is no different than al-Qaeda, no different than an ISIS, that seeks to destroy the civilization of which America is a part.'