Biden pays tribute to Martin Indyk after Middle East peace negotiator's death

President Biden on Friday paid tribute to the veteran Middle East peace negotiator Ambassador Martin Indyk, who died Thursday from complications with cancer, calling him a “voice of clarity and conviction” in his commitment to peace.

Biden, as vice president in the Obama administration, worked closely with Indyk, who served as Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations, and he acknowledged the diplomat’s broad influence across Washington as a mentor to current administration officials and the broader community of academics on Middle East policy. 

“Martin Indyk dedicated his life to the pursuit of peace,” the president said in a statement. “His legacy lives on in the many officials across my Administration who were mentored by Martin and learned firsthand from his vast knowledge, integrity, and heart. His unshakeable optimism and commitment to peace is as important today as it’s ever been.”

Indyk, who was born in Australia, cited living in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War as a formative experience in the decision to devote his life to helping resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

“His commitment to peace was rooted in witnessing that conflict and realizing that Israel’s existence is fragile, peace is the only path to lasting security, and the United States must be a part of that endeavor,” Biden said.

“More recently, he has been a voice of clarity and conviction since the horrific October 7th attack by Hamas and during the war in Gaza.”

A two-time ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration and negotiator for Israeli-Palestinian peace during the Obama administration, Indyk helped advance significant progress on Middle East peace even as a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained out of reach.

Most recently, he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as undermining U.S. support for Israel in its defense against Hamas and Iran's proxies, and blamed Netanyahu's refusal to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state for killing the opportunity to broker ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

"Wednesday, May 22, 2024. I never thought I’d live to see this day when Israel’s government rejected a full-fledged offer of peace from Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Wake up Israel! Your government is leading you into ever greater isolation and ruin," Indyk posted on the social platform X. 

Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz paid tribute to Indyk, saying in a meeting they held earlier this year, "I was reminded of his deep commitment to Israel's security and concern for Israel's future, serving as testament not only to the strategic importance he assigned to Israeli-U.S. relations, but the personal importance they held to him."

Indyk’s career in Washington began as the founding executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where his research and policy recommendations brought him to the attention of the Clinton administration, where he served as a senior official on Middle East policy and then as two-time ambassador to Israel. 

He was America’s envoy in Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, and Biden acknowledged Indyk’s rush to the hospital that night and personal consolation of Rabin’s wife Leah as “representing the American people’s empathy and grief at a pivotal moment.” 

Biden’s message Friday came amid an outpouring of gratitude and appreciation from former President Clinton and prominent diplomats involved in Middle East policy.

“Martin Indyk was an extraordinarily skilled diplomat who, no matter the obstacles, never gave up on the prospect of peace,” Clinton said in a post on X. “I’ll always be deeply grateful for the important role he played in my Administration’s efforts to end the conflict in the Middle East. The world would be better off if there were a lot more people like him.”

“We shared a deep commitment to Arab-Israeli peacemaking. May his memory be a blessing and inspiration to all who share that dream,” Aaron David Miller, who served advised both Democratic and Republican secretaries of state, posted on X. 

Likewise, Dennis Ross, Indyk’s colleague at the Washington Institute and who served as Middle East peace negotiator during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, praised his friend as living “a life of meaning; he pursued peace-making between Israel and its neighbors with passion, skill and decency.”

Outside of government, Indyk was the founding director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Brookings’ executive vice president and director of its foreign policy program, and then, most recently, as the Lowy Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-Middle East Diplomacy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

He was also an author who published books on Henry Kissinger’s diplomacy, and a memoir of his public service, “Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East.” He co-authored a book on former President Obama’s foreign policy. 

“From the Oslo process to the policy of ‘dual containment’ of Saddam’s Iraq and Islamic Iran, Martin left a deep and lasting imprint on the making and shaping of American Middle East policy,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute and who succeeded Indyk at the helm of the research organization. 

“In a region known for volatility, whatever progress America made to advance the cause of peace and security was due in no small measure to Martin’s enormous contributions."