Ambassador Michael (Mike) Herzog landed in Washington, D.C. on Friday (11/12) and officially assumed office as Ambassador of Israel to the United States on Monday (11/15)

 

Michael (Mike) Herzog began his first day as Ambassador of Israel to the United States on Monday, replacing Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who held a dual position as the Ambassador to the U.N. and the U.S. for the past 11 months. Ambassador Erdan will continue serving as Ambassador of Israel to the U.N.

Ambassador Herzog is a retired Brigadier General in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who held a variety of positions throughout his military service. These included head of the Strategic Planning Division, Military Secretary and Chief of Staff to four Israeli Defense Ministers and a special envoy for diplomatic negotiations for the Prime Minister. Until recently, Herzog was a Senior Fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), an Israel-based International Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and director of the Forum for Strategic Dialogue (FSD).

 

Upon assuming office, Ambassador Herzog hosted the annual three-day conference of the Israeli Consuls General in the United States. In addition to hosting the conference, Ambassador Herzog dedicated his first day to meetings with Embassy staff and thanked them for their dedicated work in strengthening the ties between Israel and the United States.

 

"The United States is the most important ally of Israel. The special relations between the two countries are based on shared values and close ties between the two peoples," Ambassador Herzog said. "I would like to thank the Embassy staff for their devoted work in fostering these relations and I look forward to working with the Embassy’s diplomats to strengthen and deepen the relations between Israel and the United States."

 

Ambassador Herzog also referred to his future engagement with the Biden administration: "There is no doubt that President Biden is a true friend of Israel. Together, with the administration, we will work to deepen our cooperation." Herzog added: "Bipartisan support for Israel is a fundamental component of our relations with the United States and I intend to work with both Democrats and Republicans to keep Israel a non-partisan issue."

Ambassador Herzog is married to attorney Shirin Herzog and they have two children