View source for Chaim Herzog

{{short description|President of Israel from 1983 to 1993}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Chaim Herzog (00370035).jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, {{c.}} 1983
| order             = 6th
| office              = President of Israel
| primeminister       = [[Menachem Begin]]<br />[[Yitzhak Shamir]]<br />[[Shimon Peres]]<br />[[Yitzhak Rabin]]
| term_start          = 5 May 1983
| term_end            = 13 May 1993
| predecessor         = [[Yitzhak Navon]]
| successor           = [[Ezer Weizman]]
| office2             = Member of the [[Knesset]]
| term_start2         = 20 July 1981
| term_end2           = 22 March 1983
| office3             = 5th [[Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations]]
| primeminister3      = [[Yitzhak Rabin]]<br/> [[Menachem Begin]]
| predecessor3        = [[Yosef Tekoah]]
| successor3          = [[Yehuda Zvi Blum]]
| term_start3         = 1975
| term_end3           = 1978
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1918|9|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Belfast]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Ireland]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1997|4|17|1918|9|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Tel Aviv]], Israel
| resting_place       = [[Mount Herzl]]
| nationality         = Israeli
| party               = [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]] (1981–1991)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Aura Herzog|Aura Ambache]]|1947}}
| children            = 4, including [[Isaac Herzog|Isaac]] and [[Michael_Herzog_(ambassador)|Michael]]
| profession          = 
| alma_mater          = [[University College London]]<br />[[University of Cambridge]]
| signature           = Chaim Herzog signature.svg
| allegiance          = United Kingdom (1942–1947)<br />Israel (1948–1962)
| nickname            = "Vivian"
| branch              = [[British Army]] <br />[[Israel Defense Forces]]
| rank                = <span style="white-space: nowrap"> [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]] (UK) <br /> [[Aluf|Major-general]] (Israel)</span>
| serviceyears        = 
| battles             = [[World War II]] <br /> [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]
| native_name         = {{Nobold|{{Script/Hebrew|חיים הרצוג}}}}
| native_name_lang    = he
| relatives           = [[Herzog family]]
}}

'''Chaim Herzog''' ({{langx|he|חיים הרצוג}}{{lrm}}; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997)<ref name=NYTimes-ChaimObit-1997>{{cite news |last=Pace |first=Eric |title=Chaim Herzog, Former Israeli President, Dies at 78 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/18/world/chaim-herzog-former-israeli-president-dies-at-78.html?pagewanted=all |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 April 1997 |access-date=6 June 2016}}</ref> was an Israeli politician, military officer, lawyer and author who served as [[President of Israel]] from 1983 to 1993. Born in [[Belfast]] and raised primarily in [[Dublin]], the son of Ireland's [[Chief Rabbi]] [[Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog]], he [[Aliyah|immigrated]] to [[Mandatory Palestine]] in 1935. He served in the [[Haganah]] Jewish paramilitary group during the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|1936–1939 Arab revolt]] and in the [[British Army]] during [[World War II]]. Following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] in 1948, he served in the [[Israel Defense Forces]] and fought in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. He remained in the Israeli military as an officer following the war until retiring in 1962 with the rank of major-general.

After leaving the military, Herzog managed an industrial conglomerate and co-founded the [[Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman]] law firm, which would become one of Israel's largest law firms. Between 1975 and 1978 he served as Israel's [[Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations|Permanent Representative to the United Nations]], in which capacity he denounced [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379|UN General Assembly Resolution 3379]]—the "Zionism is Racism" resolution—and symbolically tore it up before the assembly. Herzog entered politics in the [[1981 Israeli legislative election|1981 elections]], winning a [[Knesset]] seat as a member of the [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]]. Two years later, in March 1983, he was elected to the largely ceremonial role of President. He served for two five-year terms before retiring in 1993. He died four years later and was buried on [[Mount Herzl]], [[Jerusalem]]. 

His son [[Isaac Herzog]], who between 2013 and 2017 led the [[Israeli Labor Party]] and was the parliamentary [[Leader of the Opposition (Israel)|Opposition]] in the Knesset, is the incumbent [[President of Israel]]. The pair are the first father and son to have served as the nation's president.<ref name="NYTimes-ChaimObit-1997" />

== Biography ==
[[Image:CHAIM HERZOG UPON COMPLETION OF HIS LAW DEGREE IN LONDON. חיים הרצוג לאחר סיום לימודי המשפטים בלונדון.D63-099.jpg|thumb|left|200px| Herzog upon completion of his law degree, 1941.]]
Chaim Herzog was born at 2 Norman Villas,  Cliftonville Road in [[Belfast]], Ireland, as the son of [[Rabbi]] [[Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog]], who was [[Chief Rabbi]] of [[Ireland]] from 1919 to 1937 (and later of [[Mandatory Palestine]] and the State of [[Israel]]), and his wife [[Sarah Herzog|Sarah (née Hillman)]].<ref name="jafi">{{cite web |title=Herzog, Chaim (1918–1997) |url=http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/BIOS/herzog.html |url-status=dead |work=Israel and Zionism |publisher=The Department for Jewish Zionist Education |access-date=5 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223940/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/BIOS/herzog.html |archive-date=26 September 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sara Herzog Dead at 82 |url=https://www.jta.org/1979/01/16/archive/sara-herzog-dead-at-82 |publisher=JTA |date=16 January 1979 |access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref> His father was born in [[Łomża]] in what was then [[Congress Poland]], part of the [[Russian Empire]], and his mother Sarah Herzog was born in [[Riga]], in what was then the [[Governorate of Livonia]], also part of the Russian Empire at that time; his maternal grandfather was the Orthodox Jewish Talmudic scholar [[Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman]]. When Herzog was nine months old the family relocated to [[Dublin]] after his father became Chief Rabbi of Ireland.<ref name=dib/> The family home from 1919 was at 33 Bloomfield Avenue, [[Portobello, Dublin]].
[[Image:CHAIM HERZOG IN A BRITISH ARMY UNIFORM POSING WITH HIS MOTHER, RABBANIT SARA HERZOG. חיים הרצוג במדי הצבא הבריטי עם אמו הרבנית שרה הרצוג.D63-095.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Herzog in his British Army uniform with his mother, 1945.]]
Herzog's father, a fluent [[Irish language|Irish]] speaker, was known as "the [[History of Sinn Féin|Sinn Féin]] Rabbi" for his support of the [[First Dáil]] and the Irish republican cause during the [[Irish War of Independence]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Benson |first=Asher |title=Jewish Dublin |publisher=A&A Farmer Ltd |location=Dublin |year=2007 |page=22 |isbn=978-1-906353-00-1}}</ref> Herzog was raised as an Orthodox Jew and attended a traditional Jewish primary school, or [[cheder]], as a child. He received a secular education at the coeducational kindergarten of [[Alexandra College]], which was otherwise a girls' school, and at [[Wesley College, Dublin]].<ref name=dib/><ref>Herzog, ''Living History'', Chpt. 1: ''Ireland''</ref>

In his youth, Herzog was also an athlete, becoming proficient in [[cricket]], [[rugby union|rugby]], and [[boxing]]. He was a junior bantamweight boxing champion.<ref name=dib/><ref>[https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/commemorations-mark-centenary-of-chaim-herzogs-birth-564986 Commemorations mark centenary of Chaim Herzog’s birth]</ref>

Worried about rising intermarriage and assimilation rates among Jewish youth in Ireland, Herzog's parents decided to send him to study at [[yeshiva]] abroad and gave him a choice of studying in [[Poland]], [[Switzerland]], or [[Mandatory Palestine]]. Herzog, who was a Zionist, chose Palestine and moved there in 1935. He studied at the [[Mercaz HaRav]] and [[Hebron Yeshiva]]s in [[Jerusalem]]. In 1937 he was joined there by his parents upon his father being chosen as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine. He also joined the Jewish paramilitary group [[Haganah]] and the Mandatory government's [[Jewish Supernumerary Police]]. During the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]] he served with the Haganah and Jewish Supernumerary Police in Jerusalem, mainly in the [[Old City of Jerusalem|Old City]] and [[Arnona]] neighborhood.<ref name=yadchaim>[https://yadchaimherzog.org.il/en/the-story/ Chaim Herzog's Life Story]</ref><ref name=dib/><ref>Herzog: ''Living History'', Chpt. 2: ''Palestine''</ref> In 1938, he moved to the [[United Kingdom]] to study law at the [[University of Cambridge]] and [[University College London]] (UCL).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Froggatt |first=Richard |title=Chaim Herzog (1918 - 1997): President of Israel |url=https://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/673 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123215322/https://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/673 |archive-date=23 November 2012 |access-date=20 December 2025 |website=Dictionary of Ulster Biography}}</ref> He earned a [[Bachelor of Laws]] from UCL in 1941 and qualified as a [[barrister]] at [[Lincoln's Inn]]. Following his time at university, Herzog held the position of Chairman of the [[Union of Jewish Students]] (at that time named the Inter-University Jewish Federation).<ref>{{cite web |last=Sunshine |first=Nick |title=UJS celebrates its centenary today, and we feel blessed |url=https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/ujs-celebrates-its-centenary-today-and-we-feel-blessed-1.485864 |url-status=live |website=www.thejc.com |date=27 June 2019 |access-date=6 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116104801/https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/ujs-celebrates-its-centenary-today-and-we-feel-blessed-1.485864 |archive-date=16 November 2021}}</ref>

== Military career ==
[[Image:CHAIM HERZOG IN BRITISH ARMY UNIFORM. חיים הרצוג במדי הצבא הבריטי.D63-097.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Herzog in the British Army]]
[[File:Chaim herzog.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Herzog while serving as an Israeli military attaché in the United States, 1950.]]
Herzog enlisted in the [[British Army]] in December 1942 during [[World War II]]. After initial training with the [[Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment|Royal West Kent Regiment]] at [[Maidstone]], Herzog was trained as an intelligence officer at the Intelligence Corps Training Depot at [[Wentworth Woodhouse]] and at [[Mons Officer Cadet School]]. He was commissioned into the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence Corps]] in 1943. He underwent additional training at an intelligence officer's course at the [[University of Oxford]] and a prisoner of war interrogation course at the [[University of Cambridge]]. Following the [[Operation Overlord|Normandy landings]], he was given the task of interrogating German prisoners pending deployment as a brigade or divisional intelligence officer in Europe, initially processing incoming prisoners before being assigned to conduct in-depth interrogations of prisoners deemed important. In July 1944 he was posted to Normandy as an intelligence officer in the [[Guards Armoured Division]], taking part in operations across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. While temporarily detached from the Guards Armoured Division to the [[3rd (UK) Division|Third Division]], he was part of the first Allied formation to enter Germany. Herzog suffered ear damage in an artillery attack on the brigade headquarters he was posted to near [[Bremen]] while the assault on the city was being prepared. His left eardrum was permanently damaged, resulting in lifelong hearing impairment.<ref>Herzog, ''Living History'', Chpt. 4: ''On His Majesty's Service''</ref><ref name="dib">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Lawrence William |date=October 2009 |title=Herzog, Chaim (‘Vivian’) |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/herzog-chaim-vivian-a3969 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427214636/https://www.dib.ie/biography/herzog-chaim-vivian-a3969 |archive-date=27 April 2022 |access-date=17 December 2025 |website=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]}}</ref><ref name="jafi" /><ref>[https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/mk/Apps/mk/mk-personal-details/391 Chaim Herzog] - Knesset Website</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36274/supplement/5331 |title=Supplement 36274 |publisher=The London Gazette |date=3 December 1943 |page=5331 |access-date=2 April 2018 }}</ref> He participated in the liberation of several [[Nazi concentration camps]]. 

After the surrender of Germany, Herzog headed intelligence operations in several provinces of the [[British occupation zone in Germany]] from 1945 to 1947. He was tasked with identifying and interrogating Nazi officials. He helped to identify a captured German soldier as [[Heinrich Himmler]]. During this period he also helped facilitate the illegal clandestine transport of Jews from the Soviet occupation zone to help them try to reach Palestine.<ref name=dib/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/04/18/israeli-statesman-chaim-herzog-dies/4f91a09c-6982-4b41-b5c4-6b58a39d161e/ |title=Israeli statesman Chaim Herzog dies |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=18 April 1997 |access-date=26 May 2022 }}</ref> He was discharged from the British Army in March 1947 as a [[war substantive]] [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] and was granted the [[honorary rank]] of [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]].<ref name="LG 4 March 1947">{{London Gazette |issue= 37899 |date= 4 March 1947 |page= 1116 |supp= y}}</ref> 

While in the British Army, Herzog was given his lifelong parallel name of "Vivian" because his first commander could not pronounce "Chaim"; but another Jewish soldier explained to the commander that "[[Vivian (name)|Vivian]]" was the English equivalent of "[[Haim|Chaim]]".<ref>Herzog, ''Living History'', p.&nbsp;47.</ref>

After being demobilized from the British Army, he returned to Palestine and rejoined the Haganah, heading spying operations on the [[United Nations Special Committee on Palestine]].<ref name=dib/> After the establishment of the State of Israel, he fought in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], serving as an officer in the [[Battles of Latrun (1948)|battles for Latrun]]. 

Herzog's intelligence experience during World War II was seen as a valuable asset, and he became deputy director of the [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|IDF Military Intelligence Branch]] in 1948, subsequently serving as director from 1949 to 1950. He used his experience as a British Army intelligence officer in World War II to lay the foundations of Israel's military intelligence network. From 1950 to 1954, he served as [[military attaché]] at the Israeli Embassy in the [[United States]].<ref name=dib/> Herzog left Washington in September 1954. A [[State Department]] official had informed him that he was about to be declared ''[[persona non grata]]''. The decision to expel him had been taken following an [[FBI]] investigation into his attempt to recruit a [[Jordan]]ian diplomat.<ref>Middle East International No 266, 10 January 1986, Publishers [[Christopher Mayhew|Lord Mayhew]], [[Dennis Walters|Dennis Walters MP]]; [[Wilbur Crane Eveland|Wilbur Crane Eveland III]] p. 14</ref> 

He subsequently served as commander of the IDF's Jerusalem District from 1954 to 1957 and as the head of [[Southern Command (Israel)|Southern Command]] from 1957 to 1959. He again served as director of the Military Intelligence Branch from 1959 to 1962, during which time he introduced new technologies including computerization, enhanced intelligence cooperation with [[France]], and established covert cooperation with the [[Iran]]ian secret service [[SAVAK]].<ref name=dib/> He retired from the IDF in 1962 but remained a reservist with the rank of [[major-general]]. In 1967, following the [[Six-Day War]], Herzog was recalled into active service and appointed to be the first military governor of the [[West Bank]] and east Jerusalem, serving in this position until 1968.<ref name=dib/><ref name=gov>[https://www.gov.il/en/pages/chaim-herzog Chaim Herzog]</ref>

==Post-military career and activities==
[[Image:Dan Hadani collection (990044420180205171).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Herzog in 1969]]
After retiring from the army, Herzog was managing director of GUS-Rassco industrial conglomerate from 1962 to 1972. In 1965 he was among the founders of the [[Rafi (political party)|Rafi]] political party which became one of the parties that merged to form the [[Israeli Labor Party]]. He ran for the [[Knesset]] in the [[1969 Israeli legislative election]] but was not elected.<ref name=dib/><ref name=yadchaim/>
In 1972, Herzog went into partnership with [[Michael Fox (lawyer)|Michael Fox]] and [[Yaakov Neeman]], and established the law firm of [[Herzog, Fox & Neeman]], one of the largest law firms in Israel.<ref>{{cite news |author=Noam Sharvit |url=http://www.stepstrategy.net/artman/publish/printer_1825.shtml |title=BDI: Herzog, Fox & Neeman remains top Israeli law firm |date=26 June 2006 |publisher=Globes |access-date=29 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018150740/http://www.stepstrategy.net/artman/publish/printer_1825.shtml |archive-date=18 October 2015}}</ref>

During the 1960s, Herzog appeared as a commentator in Israeli radio broadcasts and on the [[BBC]], earning a reputation as Israel's leading political and military analyst.<ref name=dib/><ref name=wpost>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/04/18/israeli-statesman-chaim-herzog-dies/4f91a09c-6982-4b41-b5c4-6b58a39d161e/ ISRAELI STATESMAN CHAIM HERZOG DIES]</ref> He was chief military commentator for [[Kol Yisrael|Israel Radio]] during the [[Six-Day War]] and [[Yom Kippur War]], making both radio and television commentary during the latter. His analysis immediately prior to and during the Six-Day War and the during the Yom Kippur War was credited with raising public morale.<ref name=dib/><ref name=gov/>

Herzog also established and chaired the Israeli chapter of the [[Variety, the Children's Charity|Variety]] children's charity, served as President of the [[World ORT|World ORT Union]], and was also Chairman of Keter Publications, where he oversaw the completion of ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]''. He was the author of several books, largely on Jewish and Israeli military history. His book on the Yom Kippur War is considered one of the cornerstones of study of that war. He published his memoirs in 1996.<ref name=yadchaim/>

==Diplomatic and political career==
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 7348 Visiting President Herzog in Beit-itzhak.jpg|thumb|150px|Herzog visiting [[Beit Yitzhak-Sha'ar Hefer|Beit Yitzhak]] in 1985]]
In 1975, Herzog was appointed [[Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations|Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations]], in which capacity he served until 1978. During his term the UN adopted the "Zionism is Racism" resolution ([[UN General Assembly Resolution 3379|General Assembly Resolution 3379]]), which Herzog condemned and symbolically tore up (as his father had done to one of the British [[white paper]]s regarding the British Mandate in Palestine), saying: "For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the [[Jews|Jewish people]], this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such." In recent years British historians headed by [[Simon Sebag Montefiore]] have included this speech in a book on speeches that changed the world, which includes others by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Winston Churchill]] and [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3417539,00.html |title=Herzog speech on Zionism makes history |publisher=Ynetnews |date=26 June 2007 |access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref> Furthermore, Herzog raised the voice against the indifference of some Jewish leaders who seemed "to act with indifference" to the light of the said condemnation against Zionism, he asked then: "Where is the Jewish people?" in ''The New York Times'' article titled: "Herzog Asserts Jews Didn't Aid Israelis in U.N. Zionism Debate".<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 25, 1975|title=Herzog Asserts Jews Didn't Aid Israelis in U.N. Zionism Debate|work=The New York Times}}</ref> After the publication of the editorial, "several letters of support arrived to the Israel delegation at the United Nations", he had become a hero for the common [[American Jews|Jewish American]] citizen.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Katz Gugenheim|first=Ariela|url=http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/boicot-el-pleito-de-echeverria-con-israel/oclc/1122578103%26referer%3Dbrief_results|title=Boicot. El pleito de Echeverría con Israel|publisher=Universidad Iberoamericana/Cal y Arena|year=2019|isbn=978-607-8564-17-0|location=Mexico|language=Spanish|access-date=1 October 2021|archive-date=10 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410191926/http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/boicot-el-pleito-de-echeverria-con-israel/oclc/1122578103%26referer%3Dbrief_results|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Herzog also provided the Israeli justification for the [[Entebbe raid]] to the UN and conducted the first contacts between an Israeli and Egyptian diplomat with Egyptian ambassador [[Ahmed Asmat Abdel-Meguid]].<ref name=yadchaim/>

In the [[1981 Israeli legislative election|1981 elections]], Herzog entered politics for the first time, winning a seat in the [[Knesset]] as a member of the [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]], the predecessor to the [[Israeli Labor Party|Labor Party]].

==President of Israel==
[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - President Chaim Herzog lighting the first candle of Hanukka.jpg|thumb|right|250px|President Herzog lighting a Hannukah candle. In the background is an [[Visual arts in Israel|Israeli artwork made of volcanic ash]].]]
[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Prersident Chaim Herzog and the Patriot missile system commander.jpg|thumb|right|250px|President Herzog visiting the commander of a Coalition [[MIM-104 Patriot|Patriot missile]] battery during the [[Gulf War]], February 1991.]]
On 22 March 1983, Herzog was elected by the [[Knesset]] to serve as the sixth President of Israel, by a vote of 61 to 57, against [[Menachem Elon]], the candidate of the right and the government coalition. He assumed office on 5 May 1983 and served two five-year terms (then the maximum permitted by Israeli [[Basic Laws of Israel|basic law]]), retiring from political life in 1993. As President of Israel, Herzog made official visits to over thirty countries and addressed fifteen national legislatures. He made the first Israeli presidential visits to the US and Canada. He was also the first Israeli President to visit [[West Germany]], where he visited the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] which he had helped liberate as a British Army officer during World War II.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/07/world/herzog-pays-visit-to-belsen-this-awesome-place.htmlas HERZOG PAYS VISIT TO BELSEN, 'THIS AWESOME PLACE']</ref> He also visited far-east countries such as China, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. During a 1992 visit to [[Spain]], he and King [[Juan Carlos I]] signed a symbolic order cancelling the [[Alhambra Decree]] which had ordered the expulsion of Jews from Spain 500 years before.<ref name=yadchaim/>

In 1985, during his state visit to the [[Republic of Ireland]], Herzog visited [[Wesley College, Dublin]], opened the [[Irish Jewish Museum|Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin]], and unveiled a sculpture in honour of his childhood friend, [[Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh]], former [[Chief Justice of Ireland]] and, later, the fifth [[President of Ireland]], in [[Sneem]] Culture Park, [[County Kerry]].

Herzog was also noted for pardoning the [[Shin Bet]] agents involved in the [[Kav 300 affair]]. He issued the pardons before they were to be tried in exchange for their retirement. This raised a public uproar but the [[Supreme Court of Israel]] ruled that it was legal.<ref>[https://en.idi.org.il/articles/62259 The Authority of the President of the State of Israel to Issue Pardons]</ref>

President Herzog reduced the sentences of Menachem Livni, Uzi Sharbaf and Shaul Nir, members of the [[Jewish Underground]], who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1984 murder of four Palestinians in the West Bank town of [[Hebron]]. Herzog reduced the sentences, first to 24 years, then to 15 years, and in 1989, to 10 years, which enabled the men to be released two years later on good behaviour.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/27/world/3-israeli-terrorists-are-released-in-4th-reduction-of-their-terms.html |title=3 Israeli Terrorists Are Released In 4th Reduction of Their Terms |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=27 December 1990 |access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Alan Cowell |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/07/world/documents-given-to-arabs-in-gaza.html |title=Documents given to Arabs in Gaza |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 June 1989 |access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref>

Herzog was an opponent of [[Saddam Hussein]]'s regime in [[Iraq]], to which he referred to as a nest "of world terror". He said the world largely dismissed Israel's warnings that [[Baghdad]] was becoming a capital of world terrorism, adding that some Western countries helped Hussein develop into a military power.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-19-me-3542-story.html |title=Herzog Calls Iraq a Nest of Terrorism |author=Steve Padilla |author2=Ronald L. Soble |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=19 November 1990 |access-date=9 September 2011}}</ref>

== Commemoration ==
In 1998, the [[Ulster History Circle]] unveiled a commemorative [[blue plaque]] to Herzog at his birthplace on Cliftonpark Avenue, [[Belfast]]. The plaque was removed in August 2014 because it had been repeatedly vandalised with anti-Israel slogans. [[Democratic Unionist Party|DUP]] councillor Brian Kingston said, "This is a shocking indication of the level of tension and anti-Semitism which currently exists in parts of Belfast."<ref>{{cite news |title=A distant conflict resonates in Northern Ireland |url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2017/08/03/a-distant-conflict-resonates-in-northern-ireland |access-date=25 May 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |date=3 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chaim Herzog son saddened that Belfast plaque removed |date=13 August 2014 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-28768459 |work=BBC News |access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref>

A park is also named for him, [[Herzog Park]], in [[Rathgar]] in south Dublin.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dublincity.ie/main-menu-services-culture-and-amenities-dublin-city-parks-visit-park/herzog-park|title=Herzog Park {{!}} Dublin City Council|website=www.dublincity.ie|date=21 May 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-05-26}}</ref>

A major thoroughfare in Jerusalem, Shderot Hanassi Hashishi (Sixth President Boulevard), is named for him.<ref>[https://littmann613.blogspot.com/2013/08/street-names-in-jerusalem.html?m=1 Let us tour Eretz Yisroel]</ref>

== Personal life ==
[[Image:Chaim Herzog gravestone.jpg|thumb|right|Herzog's grave on Mount Herzl]]
===Family===
Herzog's father was [[Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog]], chief rabbi of Ireland and later [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Israel]]. His brother [[Yaakov Herzog]] served as Israel's ambassador to [[Canada]] and later as Director General of the Prime Minister's Office. He married [[Aura Herzog|Aura Ambache]] in 1947 and the couple had four children. One of their sons is [[Isaac Herzog]], a politician who was the chairman of the [[Israeli Labor Party]] and chairman of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]] and is now [[President of Israel]], the first son of a president to serve as such.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Isaac Herzog elected 11th President of Israel by wide margin|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/voting-begins-in-race-for-president-watch-669876|access-date=2 June 2021|website=The Jerusalem Post|first=Gil|last=Hoffman|authorlink=Gil Hoffman|date=2 June 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> Another son, [[Michael Herzog (ambassador)|Michael Herzog]], served as a general in the IDF and as Israeli ambassador to the United States. Their other children are Yoel, an attorney and former IDF Brigadier General, and Ronit, a clinical psychologist. His brother-in-law was diplomat [[Abba Eban]], their wives being sisters.

===Death===
Herzog died on 17 April 1997 in [[Tel Aviv]], from [[heart failure]] caused by [[pneumonia]], at the age of 78.<ref name=NYTimes-ChaimObit-1997/> He is buried on [[Mount Herzl]] in [[Jerusalem]].

== Works and publications ==
{{multiple image 
|align=right
|image1=Chaim Herzog Memorial stone in Auschwitz.JPG
|caption1=Herzog memorial stone in Auschwitz
|image2=Herzog plaque.png
|caption2=Plaque on the Belfast house in which Herzog was born, 2011
|width1=224
|width2=100
}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|title=Who Stands Accused?: Israel Answers Its Critics|publisher=Random House|year=1978|isbn=978-0-394-50132-1|oclc=3865344|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/whostandsaccused00herz}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|last2=Gazit|first2=Shlomo|author2-link=Shlomo Gazit|url=https://archive.org/details/arabisraeliwarsw0000herz|title=The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the 1948 War of Independence to the Present|publisher=Vintage|date=12 December 1983|isbn=978-1-4000-7963-6|oclc=741355280|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|title=Heroes of Israel: Profiles of Jewish Courage|publisher=Little Brown and Company|date=September 1989|isbn=978-0-316-35901-6|oclc=19510435|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/heroesofisraelpr00herz}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|title=Living History: A Memoir|url=https://archive.org/details/livinghistorymem00herz|url-access=registration|publisher=Pantheon|date=12 November 1996|isbn=978-0-297-81941-7|oclc=36792752}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|last2=Gichon|first2=Mordechai| author2-link =Mordechai Gichon|title=Battles of the Bible: A Military History of Ancient Israel|publisher=Pantheon|date=March 1997|isbn=978-0-7607-7626-1|oclc=71323946}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herzog|first1=Chaim|title=The War of Atonement: The Inside Story of the Yom Kippur War|publisher=Greenhill Books|date=March 1998|isbn=978-1-935149-13-2|oclc=427612923}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{MKlink|id=391}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/herzog.html |title=Chaim Herzog |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishagency.org/leaders/content/26317 |title=Chaim Herzog (1918–1997) |date=2 May 2005 |publisher=[[Jewish Agency for Israel]] |access-date=29 March 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215091937/http://www.jewishagency.org/leaders/content/26317 |url-status=dead }} 
*{{cite news |date=25 April 1997 |title=Israel, Jewish world mourn death of Chaim Herzog, 78 |agency=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency|JTA]] |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/5630/israel-jewish-world-mourn-death-of-chaim-herzog-78/ |newspaper=[[J Weekly]]}}
*{{cite news |title=President of Israel to Make First Visit to U.S. |author=Thomas L. Friedman |author-link=Thomas Friedman |date=8 November 1987 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/08/world/president-of-israel-to-make-first-visit-to-us.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}
* The End of World War II in Europe: Wartime Letters from Chaim Herzog to Family and Friends, published in Israel's Documented Story: The English-language blog of Israel State Archives:
* http://israelsdocuments.blogspot.co.il/2015/05/the-end-of-world-war-ii-in-europe.html
* {{IMDb name|2781862}}
* {{C-SPAN|192}}

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{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Haim Laskov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of [[Southern Command (Israel)|Southern Command]]|years=1958}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Avraham Yoffe]]}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Yosef Tekoah]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations]]  | |years=1975–1978}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Yehuda Blum]]}}
{{S-off}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Yitzhak Navon]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[President of Israel]]|years=1983–1993}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Ezer Weizman]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Permanent Representatives of Israel to the United Nations}}
{{Heads of Aman}}
{{IsraelSouthernCommandChiefs}}
{{Israelpres}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herzog, Haim}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
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[[Category:Herzog family|Chaim Herzog]]
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