Martin Indyk is an American diplomat who has served as Ambassador to Israel and is currently Special Envoy for Peace Negotiations.

Indyk (born July 1, 1951) was born in London, England, though he was raised and educated in Australia. He received a Bachelor of Economics degree from Sydney University in 1972 and a doctorate in International Relations from the Australian National University in 1977. He emigrated to the United States and later gained American citizenship in 1993.

Before entering government serivce, Indyk served for three years as a deputy research director for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and for eight years as founding executive director for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research institute specializing in Arab-Israel relations. He has also been an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has taught at the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, the Dayan Center for Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University, and the Department of Politics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Under President Bill Clinton, Indyk served as a Special Assistant to the President and as senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). While at the NSC, he served as principal adviser to the president and the National Security Adviser on Arab-Israeli issues, Iraq, Iran, and South Asia. He was a senior member of Secretary Christopher’s Middle East peace team and served as the White House representative on the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission.

From April 1995 to September 1997, and again from January 2000 to June 2001, Indyk served as the United States Ambassador to Israel, becoming the first - and so far only - foreign born U.S. ambassador to Israel.

On July 29th, 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Indyk as Washington's special Middle East envoy for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Dr. Indyk has published widely on U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli peace process, on U.S.-Israeli relations, and on the threats of Middle East stability posed by Iraq and Iran. He is married to Jill Indyk and they have two children, Sarah and Jacob.

On July 25, 2024, Indyk passed away at the age of 73.

Sources: Brookings Institution; Wikipedia. Photo: Day Walters/Photographic Illustration.
Itamar Eichner, “Diplomat Martin Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel, has passed away”, Ynet, (July 25, 2024).