Martin Indyk, a veteran Mideast peace envoy and former U.S. ambassador to Israel who was the founding executive director of an influential Washington think tank and was a go-to source for interpreting the complexities of the Middle East, died on Thursday at his home in Connecticut following a battle with esophageal cancer. He was 73. 

Indyk, who held several prominent roles, including the first executive director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration and special Middle East envoy in the Obama administration, was remembered by friends and colleagues for his sharp foreign policy analyses and relentless pursuit of peacemaking in the Middle East.  

Born in London and raised in Australia, Indyk was “a true American success story,” Robert Satloff, Indyk’s successor as the current executive director of The Washington Institute, said. While obtaining his Ph.D. in international relations at the Australian National University, Indyk came to the U.S. in 1982 for a sabbatical at Columbia University. His career in Washington started soon after, first as a researcher for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Satloff said in a statement that Indyk “came to Washington to have an impact on the making of American Middle East policy and that he surely did – as pioneering scholar, insightful analyst and remarkably effective policy entrepreneur.”

“He was a visionary who not only founded an organization based on the idea that wise public policy is rooted in sound research, he embodied it,” Satloff said. “His contributions to the growth and development of The Washington Institute — and to the definition and execution of US Middle East policy, more generally — are both legendary and immeasurable.”

Indyk “passionately pursued Arab-Israel peace throughout his professional life, certain it was critical for the parties, the U.S. and the region,” David Makovsky, director of the Washington Institute Project on the Middle East Peace Process, told Jewish Insider. Makovsky remembered Indyk for his “sharp analytical mind” that “always looked for creative ideas to make breakthroughs happen,” adding that Indyk “knew all the key leaders in the Mideast and could talk to each about their history and interests.”

“You might not always agree with Martin, but you had to grapple with his ideas, and he always welcomed those vigorous conversations,” Makovsky told JI. “In the last years of his life, perhaps influenced by his hallmark study of Henry Kissinger’s Mideast diplomacy, he came to believe Israeli-Palestinian peace had [been] more incremental than he had hoped.” 

While Indyk did not live to see peace achieved, Makovsky said that “up to the end, he did not give up on the idea of peace and inspired others to carry on.” 

Indyk served as U.S. envoy to Israel twice, between 1995-1997 and 2000-2001. Upon being named ambassador to Israel, Indyk told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that supporting strong ties between Israel and the U.S. had been his “life’s work,” especially after his time spent volunteering on a kibbutz in southern Israel as the Yom Kippur War broke out. “It taught me just how fragile Israel’s existence was,” he told the committee, “and how central the United States is to war and peace in the Middle East.”

He helped to facilitate the Wye River Memorandum, an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1998 which aimed to revive the Oslo Accords peace process but fell apart soon after being signed. 

Up until his final months, Indyk, who opposed Israeli settlement activity, tweeted frequently to express criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and its handling of the war in Gaza and U.S. relations. He also authored several books on foreign policy: Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East, Bending History: Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy and Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy.

Dennis Ross, a fellow diplomat and friend of Indyk’s for more than four decades, said on X that Indyk “battled cancer the way he lived his life, with purpose and an unrelenting spirit. Martin lived a life of meaning; he pursued peace-making between Israel and its neighbors with passion, skill and decency.” 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told JI that Indyk “was a friend, mentor, and inspiration to a generation of Middle East scholars and policy practitioners. We all learned and benefitted from his wisdom, his intellect, his dedication, his creativity, and his generosity. His influence will be felt across the region for many years to come.”

Shibley Telhami, an Arab-Israeli senior fellow of the Center for Middle East Policy and at the Brookings Institution, said that he was “deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and former colleague Martin Indyk.” 

Jewish leaders involved in Middle East policy said that Indyk was a role model who took the time to meet with leadership of the next generation. 

“Ambassador Indyk was a champion for peace throughout his life and recognized the necessity of passing the baton onto the next generation, as he knew Israeli-Palestinian peace demands perseverance and a long-term commitment from today’s young leadership to become the future trailblazers of this pursuit,” said Shanie Reichman, Israel Policy Forum’s director of strategic initiatives; she spoke alongside Indyk on several panels, including in 2022 when the group honored Indyk, who was a member of the board, at its fifth anniversary event. 

Reichman told JI that “he met with countless groups of Israel Policy Forum’s young leaders to instill in them a commitment to a secure, Jewish, democratic Israel and future two-state outcome. He took seriously the obligation to inspire the next generation of pursuers of Israeli-Palestinian peace.” 

Neri Zilber, a policy adviser at IPF and former adjunct fellow of The Washington Institute, remembered Indyk on X as someone who was “always very generous with his time and encouragement, both in private messages and more recently as a guest on the Israel Policy Pod.” 

Indyk is survived by his wife, Gahl Hodges Burt, a former aide to Kissinger and a White House social secretary during the Reagan administration, as well as two children from his first marriage and five grandchildren.