Israel’s former ambassador to the US, Mike Herzog, sharply criticized recent efforts by US hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler to directly engage Hamas, describing the initiative as “unhelpful” and warning it could risk creating divisions between Israel and the United States.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Herzog – when asked if he intervened to prevent the Biden administration from directly reaching out to Hamas during the Israel-Hamas War – said, “The short answer is no. They worked through the mediators. They were very careful not to engage Hamas directly. Hamas is a US-designated terror organization, and the Biden administration did not try to interact with it directly.”
Reflecting humorously on life after his ambassadorship, he said, “I’m taking it easy, catching up on missed sleep and planning my next chapter.”
During his diplomatic tenure, Herzog dealt extensively with critical hostage negotiations following Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7, 2023. He highlighted two key strategic factors that drove the terror group to accept the initial phase of hostage releases in January 2025.
“We’ve been trying to push for a hostage deal for a long time,” he said.
“We might have come up with more flexible positions, but my own take is that what ultimately drove Hamas to do the first stage of the hostage deal were two strategic developments.
“The first was the fact that we degraded Hezbollah, deterred Iran. Hamas was pinning its hopes all along on Israel being dragged into a regional war. When we hit Hezbollah and Iran, they realized it’s not going to happen.”
Herzog further detailed the assassination of the Hezbollah leader, a critical strategic move by Israel. “The issue of Hassan Nasrallah went up and down throughout the war,” he said.
“There was a debate within the Israeli cabinet whether or not to take out Nasrallah and start war with Hezbollah. Ultimately, this decision was taken at the last moment when Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu arrived in the US.”
Recounting the American response, the former ambassador noted, “They were surprised; they were shocked. Their initial response had less to do with the significance of taking out Nasrallah and more about their own diplomatic posture after proposing a ceasefire with the French. After overcoming initial frustration, they understood the strategic significance. President [Joe] Biden publicly related [to it] positively the day after.”
Trump administration
The second key factor Herzog identified in the hostage negotiations was the active involvement of the US President Donald Trump’s incoming administration, noting, “The Trump administration deciding to enter the picture even before Trump assumed office had, I believe, an important impact. The outgoing and incoming administrations worked together, and the fact that President Trump decided to tweet about it and sent Steve Witkoff had a crucial impact.”
He elaborated further on the phased hostage agreement: “The reason it was structured this way was because it suited both Israel and Hamas. Israel wanted to retain the option to return to war and finish defeating Hamas, while Hamas wanted to keep some hostages as insurance for its survival.”
Turning to US military aid during the war, Herzog expressed disappointment with certain decisions by the Biden administration. He particularly criticized the withholding of specific munitions due to debates over Israel’s military operations in Rafah.
“The American decision to withhold the 2,000-pound bombs from Israel because of the debate on Rafah was very unfortunate; it shouldn’t have happened. We tried to fix it later on, but it didn’t work. These munitions are highly important for Israel to conduct this war.”
Herzog also addressed internal tensions within the US administration, specifically regarding leaks from the State Department. “There were a lot of leaks from the State Department, and many of them were not connected to reality,” Herzog noted. “There were even leaks against secretary [of state Antony] Blinken himself, designed to put pressure on him regarding Israel. But these leaks did not significantly affect top-level decision-making.”
Regarding Netanyahu’s relationship with Biden, the former ambassador said, “There were a lot of tensions between them on policy issues and politically. Biden and the people around him mistakenly believed Netanyahu was actively steering American politics in Trump’s favor, and Netanyahu’s circle occasionally felt Biden was intervening in Israeli politics against them. Despite these tensions, critical wartime decisions were unaffected.”
Herzog also stressed maintaining bipartisan support in the US. “Maintaining bipartisanship is critical for Israel,” he emphasized. “I engaged many Democrats; the only circle I did not engage intentionally was ‘the squad’ because there was no mutual interest.”
Reflecting on the possibility of normalization with Saudi Arabia disrupted by the October 7 events, Herzog stated, “I believe normalization with Saudi Arabia could have happened. We were actively working on it before October 7. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet, but I believe it will ultimately happen.”
Herzog concluded his reflections with advice for future diplomacy: “We should never take the US-Israel relationship for granted. We should invest in it; it’s like watering a flower.”
