[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E710-E711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ON THE DEATH OF FORMER ISRAELI PRESIDENT CHAIM HERZOG

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                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 17, 1997

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, we were all saddened today to learn of the 
passing of the former President of Israel, Chaim Herzog. Mr. Herzog's 
life mirrored the birth and early history of the State of Israel. 
During his career, he served as a distinguished soldier, author, and 
diplomat.
  Mr. Herzog was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1918, the son of a rabbi, 
and immigrated to mandatory Palestine in 1935. He served as an officer 
in the British Army during the Second World War, and landed with Allied 
troops at Normandy in 1944.
  Later he served with distinction in defending Israel from Arab attack 
during Israel's war of independence in 1948. After the June 1967 war, 
Mr. Herzog was appointed Israel's first military governor of the West 
Bank.
  In the 1970's, he served at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and 
was later named Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations. He was the 
author of several books, including ``Israel's Finest Hour,'' a 
historical account of the 1967 war. Mr. Herzog was elected Israel's 
President in 1983.
  Mr. Speaker, Chaim Herzog has been described by his contemporaries as 
``a man of war who loved peace.'' The American people extend to his 
family and to the people of Israel their deepest condolences for the 
passing of a man who has helped shape the history of Israel, and who 
was a lover of peace.

                       [From the Washington Post]

                  Former Israel President Herzog Dies

                           (By Dafna Linzer)

       Jerusalem (AP)--Chaim Herzog, Israel's longest-serving 
     president as well as a distinguished soldier, author and 
     diplomat, died today. He was 78.
       Herzog suffered heart failure after contracting pneumonia 
     during a recent visit to the United States, said Rachel 
     Sofer, spokeswoman of Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.
       When Herzog became Israel's sixth president in 1983, the 
     country was divided by the war in Lebanon and facing 
     international isolation. During his 10 years in the largely 
     ceremonial post, Herzog made 45 visits abroad and was 
     credited with helping to shape Israel's image 
     internationally.
       He got mixed reviews, however, when he set free Shin Bet 
     secret service agents in 1986 who were accused of murdering 
     two Palestinian militants. Four years later, he pardoned 
     members of the Jewish underground convicted of attacking 
     Palestinians.
       Speaking in 1993, Herzog said his pardons saved the morale 
     and effectiveness of Shin Bet after the scandal known as 
     ``Bus 300.'' The agency had tried to frame Yitzhak Mordechai, 
     the current defense minister but at the time an army 
     commander, for the deaths of two Palestinian bus hijackers. 
     It was later learned that Shin Bet ordered the killings.
       Born Vivian Herzog in Belfast on Sept. 17, 1918, Herzog was 
     Ireland's bantamweight boxing champion before immigrating to 
     pre-state Palestine in 1935. His father, Isaac Herzog, became 
     the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi when Israel gained 
     independence in 1948.
       During World War II, he was an officer in the British army, 
     landing with the allied troops in Normandy. He was one of the 
     last British officers to question Nazi Gen. Heinrich Himmler 
     before he committed suicide in prison.
       President Ezer Weizman, who served in battle with Herzog in 
     the 1948 War of Independence, described him as a ``talented 
     man and good friend.''
       Shimon Peres, the former premier and Labor Party leader, 
     called Herzog ``a man of war who loved peace.''
       ``Herzog was the most statesman-like man in Israel. He was 
     a military man, a president, son of rabbis and man of the 
     modern age,'' Peres said on Israel radio.
       Following the war, he was named the first military governor 
     of the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 
     1967 Mideast War. The aristocratic Herzog won plaudits for 
     his commentaries during the war, when his balanced and 
     soothing reports put the nation at ease.
       Later, he became the first head of Israeli military 
     intelligence, served as U.S. military attache in Washington, 
     and in 1975, was appointed Israel's ambassador to the United 
     Nations.

[[Page E711]]

       During his three-year stint as U.N. ambassador, he made a 
     celebrated but unsuccessful defense of his country against a 
     resolution equating Zionism with racism.
       He ripped up a copy of the resolution while speaking at the 
     podium. That year he also wrote ``The War of Atonement,'' an 
     account of the 1973 Yom Kippur war and its political effects.
       Among his other books was a historical look at the 1967 war 
     entitled ``Israel's Finest Hour.''
       In 1978, Herzog returned to Israel and opened a law 
     practice in Tel Aviv. He was voted into parliament as a Labor 
     representative in 1981.
       In March 1983, he was elected president, overcoming intense 
     opposition from the right-wing Likud party, headed by then-
     premier Menachem Begin.
       When he took office, Herzog vowed to be a ``people's 
     president,'' but he lacked the common touch for the rough-
     and-tumble of Israeli political culture.
       ``He acted like a European, with European culture, grace 
     and dignity. He tried to be folksy, but it was hard in a 
     three-piece suit,'' said Gabi Brun, who covered the 
     presidency for the daily Yedioth Ahronot for 20 years.
       Herzog adopted the traditional president's role as the 
     watchdog of the country's morality, decrying racial 
     intolerance and religious strife.

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