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‘Did my best to serve my country and my people,’ outgoing Israeli envoy in Washington tells JNS

Michael Herzog, the Israeli envoy who largely operated behind the scenes, was praised as a “supremely efficient” ambassador admired on both sides of the aisle.

Michael Herzog, outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, speaking at his farewell event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Shmulik Almany.
Michael Herzog, outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, speaking at his farewell event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Shmulik Almany.

Those saying farewell to Michael Herzog on Thursday said he was the right man to helm an unsteady ship as U.S.-Israel relations ebbed and flowed during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli embassy in Washington held a tribute event to the envoy as Herzog’s term, which began in November 2021, nears its end. His successor, Yechiel Leiter, takes over next week, coinciding with the changing of the guard in the White House.

“It was a very emotional event for me,” Herzog told JNS, following speaker after speaker heaping praise on him. “I did my best to serve my country and my people. I leave, first of all, hopeful that we’ll see all the hostages come back. Strategically, we have new opportunities that we should pursue.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told those in attendance that Herzog “navigated this tension” within the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem.

“The Biden administration is under tremendous pressure from the left to restrict weapons. On the right, there’s been tremendous pressure to do no deal at all about anything, to play like the Palestinians don’t exist,” Graham said at the event. 

“Michael, you have been the most steady, even-keeled representative at a time when we needed steady and even keel,” he said. “It takes a warrior, I think, to make peace.”

Amos Hochstein, a special adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden on energy and investment who stepped in as negotiator of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement, noted that both he and Herzog entered their respective posts with “very different expectations of what the job will ultimately be.”

Herzog, brother of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, was appointed by then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and stayed on even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came back to power. 

Herzog and Netanyahu don’t align philosophically on many issues, and Netanyahu declined to grant Herzog an often customary fourth year in the position.

Hochstein praised Herzog, a former general in the Israel Defense Forces, as well as a researcher, think-tank analyst and Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiator, as uniquely efficient.

The envoy “transformed from a peacetime consigliere to a wartime consigliere,” he said, using terminology popularized by The Godfather. “These are two very different roles. Usually where you hire very different people to accomplish those tasks.

“I can’t think in 30 years of working in this town with ambassadors from many countries and every ambassador from Israel of anyone who could have made that transition that seamlessly and that effectively,” Hochstein said.

Michael Herzog
Michael Herzog (right), outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, and Amos Hochstein, special adviser on energy and investment for the Biden administration, at Herzog’s farewell event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Shmulik Almany.

‘Speak truth to power’

Isaac Herzog sent a recorded message, telling attendees that his brother “earned the admiration of the administration, of policymakers, of opinion-makers as well.”

“He has navigated sensitive diplomatic terrain with integrity, skill, wisdom and grace, and deepened the singular U.S.-Israel alliance at a critical moment for our nation and our world,” Isaac Herzog said.

Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister and a former ambassador to Washington, also delivered pre-recorded remarks.

“Diplomats are usually renowned for speaking a lot of words and actually saying very little. Great rabbis are supposed to actually say a lot with few words,” Dermer said. “I think Mike Herzog’s rabbinic gene is actually stronger than his diplomatic gene because one of the things I most appreciate about Mike is that when I read a cable that he sends in half a page, he can sum up probably a day full of conversations.”

“I think that is a unique skill set, and it shows just how sharp he is, and his ability to understand the situation and to be able to convey it in such a succinct fashion,” Dermer said.

The rabbinic remark alludes to Herzog’s grandfather, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who was chief rabbi of both Ireland and Israel.

Michael Herzog told attendees his service was motivated by his experience in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, seen before the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as the most devastating attack Israel has ever suffered.

“That war broke out against the background of a major intelligence failure, our version of Pearl Harbor, and serious mistakes by our political leadership for which we paid a very heavy price,” the envoy told attendees.

“I came out of this war wounded physically and psychologically, and I vowed to myself back then that if I ever get into the decision-making circle, I will always speak truth to power and do my utmost to prevent mistakes that might cost human lives,” he said.

Rather than being a paper-pusher, “I did not confine myself to delivering messages between our capitals, but rather strive to impact policies in both Washington and Jerusalem,” he said.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who just became chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after serving as its ranking member for four years, told JNS that Herzog has “been just superb.”

“The relationship between Israel and America is strong,” the senator said. “I think what’s happened over the last 457 days has made it even stronger, and he truly has been part of that.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who made waves in the last Congress when the House Education and Workforce Committee she chaired went after Jew-hatred on college campuses, told JNS she’s “a huge fan” of Herzog’s.

“I think he has done a fabulous job. On the whole, Israel sends great ambassadors to the United States,” Foxx told JNS. “I’ve been very, very impressed with him, and I wanted to show my appreciation to him.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), who co-chairs the House Abraham Accords Caucus and serves on the panel’s Gaza Working Group, told JNS that Herzog has been “supremely effective because he has all the attributes you look for in an ambassador.”

“He’s a great listener. He’s a great advocate for his country. He knows the message that needs to be heard, whether it’s meeting with members of Congress and members of the community,” Schneider said. “He just was the perfect emissary for Israel at this moment in time.”

One of Herzog’s keys to success, according to Schneider, was his ability to listen to criticism of Israel and “absorb it, but he would then reflect back why Israel was doing what it was doing, and he was as good of an advocate for Israel as I’ve ever seen.”

Dr. Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American businesswoman, philanthropist and political donor, attended the tribute along with political operatives and Jewish and communal leaders.

JNS asked Michael Herzog what he plans to do next. Herzog took a breath, smiled and looked at his wife, Shirin Herzog. “Still figuring it out,” he told JNS.

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