Martin Indyk

Martin Indyk

Martin Indyk, March 19, 2001
Born (1951-07-01) July 1, 1951
London, United Kingdom
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Sydney (B.A., 1972)
Australian National University (Ph.D., International Relations, 1977)
Occupation Diplomat, ambassador, professor
Known for Founder, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Spouse(s) Jill Collier Indyk (divorced)
Children Sarah
Jacob
Relatives Ivor Indyk (brother)

Martin Sean Indyk (born July 1, 1951) is the Vice President and Director for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He took leave from the Brookings Institution to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli–Palestinian Negotiations from 2013 to 2014. Indyk served as United States ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Clinton Administration. He is known as the framer of the U.S. policy of dual containment which sought to 'contain' Iraq and Iran, which were both viewed as the United States' two most important strategic adversaries at the time. He is the author of Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peacemaking Diplomacy in the Middle East.

Biography

Martin Indyk was born to a Jewish family[1] in London, United Kingdom. He was raised in Australia, growing up in the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1972 and received a PhD in international relations from the Australian National University in 1977. His brother is Ivor Indyk. He emigrated to the United States and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1993. He was formerly married to Jill Collier Indyk with whom he had two children, Sarah and Jacob.

Political and diplomatic career

In 1982, Indyk began working as a deputy research director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington.[2][3] From 1985 Indyk served eight years as the founding Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research institute specializing in analysis of Middle East policy.[4] He has been an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he taught Israeli politics and foreign policy.

He has taught at the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and the Department of Politics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Indyk has published widely on U.S. policy toward the Arab–Israeli peace process, on U.S.–Israeli relations, and on the threats to Middle East stability posed by Iraq and Iran.

He served as special assistant to President Bill Clinton and as senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the United States National Security Council. While at the NSC, he served as principal adviser to the President and the National Security Advisor on Arab–Israeli issues, Iraq, Iran, and South Asia. He was a senior member of Secretary of State Warren Christopher's Middle East peace team and served as the White House representative on the U.S. Israel Science and Technology Commission.

He served two stints as United States Ambassador to Israel, from April 1995 to September 1997 and from January 2000 to July 2001 and was the first and so far, the only, foreign-born US ambassador to Israel.

He has served on the board of the New Israel Fund.[5] Indyk currently serves on the Adivsory Board for DC based non-profit America Abroad Media.[6]

On July 29, 2013, Indyk was appointed Washington's special Middle East envoy for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.[7] Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas favored his appointment.[8] He resigned from this position June 27, 2014, returning to the Brookings Institution as its vice president and director for foreign policy.[9][10]

Controversy

Indyk was the first United States ambassador to be stripped of a security clearance. Indyk was under investigation for improperly handling sensitive material.[11][12][13] Indyk's clearance was restored a month later, in October 2000, by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.[14]

Criticism

In 2014, Indyk came under scrutiny when a New York Times investigation revealed that wealthy Gulf state of Qatar made a $14.8 million, four-year donation to Brookings Institution, in order to fund two Brookings initiatives,[15] the Brookings Center in Doha and the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World.[16] The Times investigation found that Brookings was one of more than a dozen influential Washington think tanks and research organizations that "have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments in recent years while pushing United States government officials to adopt policies that often reflect the donors' priorities."[15] A number of scholars interviewed by the Times expressed alarm at the trend, saying that the "donations have led to implicit agreements that the research groups would refrain from criticizing the donor governments."[15]

The revelation of the think tank's choice to accept the payment from Qatar was especially controversial because at the time, Indyk was acting as a peace negotiator between Israel and the Palestinians, and because Qatar is a funds jihadist groups in the Middle East and is the main financial backer of Hamas, "the mortal enemy of both the State of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party."[17] Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal, who directs Hamas's operations against Israel, is also harbored by Qatar.[15] Indyk defended the arrangement with Qatar, contending that it did not influence the think tank's work and that "to be policy-relevant, we need to engage policy makers."[15] However, the arrangement between Qatar and Brookings caused Israeli government officials to doubt Indyk's impartiality.[18]

Media appearances

In his video interview with Leadel.NET, Indyk speaks of the path he followed from a young international relations student and volunteer in a kibbutz during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, until he was made the first (and second) Jewish American ambassador to Israel.

While promoting his book, Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy, on 8 January 2009, Indyk engaged in a discussion of Israeli–Palestinian peace negotiations with Norman Finkelstein of Democracy Now!. Indyk indicated he felt "sandbagged" by not being informed of Finkelstein's presence.[19]

Books

References

  1. ↑ Haaretz: "Former 'Meet the Press' host David Gregory writing book on his Jewish faith" by Anthony Weiss August 24, 2014
  2. ↑ "TRANSCRIPT: INDYK DISCUSSES NEW ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, IRAQ POLICY". FAS. 26 May 1999. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  3. ↑ Halsell, Grace. "Clinton's Indyk Appointment One of Many From Pro-Israel Think Tank". Washington Report. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  4. ↑ Mearsheimer, John J.; Walt, Stephen M., The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Macmillan, September 4, 2007. Cf. p.152
  5. ↑ Guttman, Nathan (July 30, 2013). "Martin Indyk Brings Baggage to Mideast Talks — and That's the Point". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Archived July 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Ravid, Barak (July 29, 2013). "Obama welcomes renewal of Israeli-Palestinian talks, but says 'hard choices' lie ahead". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  8. ↑ Barak Ravid (July 21, 2013). "Report: Martin Indyk to be U.S. representative on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks". Haaretz.
  9. ↑ Jackson, David (27 June 2014). "U.S. envoy for Middle East peace resigns". USA Today. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Office of the Spokesperson. "Secretary Kerry Announcement on Ambassador Martin Indyk". United States Department of State. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  11. ↑ Koppel, Andrea (September 23, 2000). "U.S. suspends security clearance for ambassador to Israel". CNN. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "Ambassador's Security Clearance Suspended". ABC. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  13. ↑ "MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2000 Briefer: RICHARD BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN". fas.org. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Envoy to Israel Regains Clearance--for Duration of Crisis". LATimes. October 11, 2000. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Williams, Eric Lipton, Brooke; Confessore, Nicholas (2014-09-06). "Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  16. ↑ "Brookings Responds to Tablet Piece on Qatar Funding". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  17. ↑ "How Peace Negotiator Martin Indyk Cashed a Big, Fat $14.8 Million Check From Qatar, and No One Noticed". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  18. ↑ "Jerusalem doubts Indyk's institute after Qatar funding reports". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  19. ↑ "Former Amb. Martin Indyk vs. Author Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault on Gaza and the US Role in the Conflict". Democracy Now. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Martin Indyk.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Edward Djerejian		 U.S. Ambassador to Israel
1995–1997 		Succeeded by
Edward S. Walker, Jr.
Preceded by
Edward S. Walker, Jr.		 U.S. Ambassador to Israel
2000–2001 		Succeeded by
Daniel C. Kurtzer
Government offices
Preceded by
Robert Pelletreau		 Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
October 14, 1997 – November 16, 1999 		Succeeded by
Edward S. Walker, Jr.
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