Isaac Herzog

His Excellency

Isaac Herzog
His Excellency; Isaac Herzog
יצחק הרצוג
	Official portrait, 2021
11th President of Israel
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 7 July 2021
Prime Minister	Naftali Bennett; Yair Lapid; Benjamin Netanyahu (designate)
Preceded by	Reuven Rivlin
Leader of the Opposition
	In office; 25 November 2013 – 31 July 2018
Preceded by	Shelly Yachimovich
Succeeded by	Tzipi Livni
Minister of Welfare and Social Services
	In office; 21 March 2007 – 17 January 2011
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert; Benjamin Netanyahu
Preceded by	Ehud Olmert
Succeeded by	Moshe Kahlon
Minister of Diaspora, Society and the ; Fight Against Antisemitism
	In office; 21 March 2007 – 31 March 2009
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert
Preceded by	Natan Sharansky
Succeeded by	Yuli-Yoel Edelstein
Minister of Tourism
	In office; 4 May 2006 – 21 March 2007
Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert
Preceded by	Avraham Hirschson
Succeeded by	Yitzhak Aharonovich
Minister of Housing and Construction
	In office; 10 January 2005 – 23 November 2005
Prime Minister	Ariel Sharon
Preceded by	Tzipi Livni
Succeeded by	Ze'ev Boim
Faction represented in the Knesset
Other roles
Personal details
Born	22 September 1960 (age 64); Tel Aviv, Israel
Spouse(s)	Michal Herzog
Relatives	Chaim Herzog (father)

Isaac Herzog, Hebrew: יצחק הרצוג , sometimes known as Yitzhak Herzog, (born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician of HaAvoda (Labor Party). Herzog has been the President of Israel since 2021. He is the first Israeli president born after the establishment of the state of Israel. He is also the first son of an Israeli president to become president himself. From 2018 until 2021, he was chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Herzog was a member of Knesset, the Israeli parliament from 2003 until 2018. From 2013 until 2018, he was the Leader of the Opposition. He was born in Tel Aviv.

Knesset member

Herzog was a Member of Knesset from 2003 until June 2018. From 2013 till July 2017 he was leader of HaAvoda. From 2015 till July 2017 he was also leader of HaMahaneh HaTziyoni ("The Zionist Union"), together with Tzipi Livni of HaTnu'a (still leading). Because the new HaAvoda leader Avi Gabbay is not a Knesset member, Herzog continued leading the Knesset as Leader of the Opposition.

He has held several government positions:

Minister of Housing and Construction in 2005
Minister of Tourism in 2006-2007
Minister of Diaspora, Society and the Fight against Antisemitism in 2007-2009
Minister of Welfare and Social Services in 2007-2011

In June 2018, Herzog was unanimously elected chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, for which he left the Knesset and Israeli politics ^[1]

Presidency

In May 2021, Herzog announced his candidacy for President of Israel for the 2021 election.^[2] He was elected president on 2 June 2021, defeating educator Miriam Peretz.^[3] He took office on 7 July 2021.

Personal life

Herzog is the son of former president of Israel Chaim Herzog and social activist Aura Ambache.

He studied law at Tel Aviv University and worked as a lawyer at Herzog, Fox & Ne'eman, where his father was one of the founders.

Isaac Herzog Media

Emblem of Israel dark blue full
Herzog speaking at the Munich Security Conference, 2015
Herzog in a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, January 2014
Herzog (second from right) with Naya Bienstock, Noa Cohen, and Ravid Ronen in 2022
Herzog with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 2021
Herzog with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, 2023
Herzog with King Abdullah II in Amman, Jordan, 30 March 2022
Herzog with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November 2022
Herzog with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv after the Hamas attack on Israel, 9 January 2024