Chaim Herzog

Chaim Herzog
חיים הרצוג
Herzog in 1954
6th President of Israel
In office 5 May 1983 – 13 May 1993
Prime Minister	Menachem Begin Yitzhak Shamir Shimon Peres Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Rabin
Preceded by	Yitzhak Navon
Succeeded by	Ezer Weizman
Member of the Knesset
In office 20 July 1981 – 22 March 1983
5th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
In office 1975–1978
Preceded by	Yosef Tekoah
Succeeded by	Yehuda Zvi Blum
Personal details
Born	(1918-09-17)17 September 1918 Belfast, Ireland
Died	17 April 1997(1997-04-17) (aged 78) Tel Aviv, Israel
Resting place	Mount Herzl, Jerusalem
Nationality	Israeli
Political party	Alignment (1981–91)
Spouse	Aura Ambache ​ (m. 1947)​
Children	4, including Isaac and Michael
Relatives	Herzog family
Alma mater	University College London University of London
Signature
Nickname	"Vivian"
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom (1943–47) Israel (1948–62)
Branch/service	British Army Israel Defence Forces
Rank	Major (UK) Major-general (Israel)
Battles/wars	World War II 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Major-General Chaim Herzog (Hebrew: חיים הרצוג‎; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997)^[1] was an Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Dublin, the son of Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. He returned to Palestine after the war and, following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, fought in the Battles of Latrun during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He retired from the Israel Defence Forces in 1962 with the rank of major-general.

After leaving the military, Herzog practised law. In 1972 he was a co-founder of Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman, which would become one of Israel's largest law firms. Between 1975 and 1978 he served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in which capacity he denounced UN General Assembly Resolution 3379—the "Zionism is Racism" resolution—and symbolically tore it up before the assembly. Herzog entered politics in the 1981 elections, winning a Knesset seat as a member of the 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 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.^[1]