POLITICIANS and leaders of the Jewish community have paid tribute to the Irish born former president of Israel, Mr Chaim Herzog, who died yesterday after a long illness. He was 78.
Mr Herzog spent his formative years in Belfast and Dublin before emigrating as a youth to Palestine. In adult life he excelled in at least half a dozen careers. As well as spending more than 20 years in the military, he also practised law, represented Israel's Labour Party in parliament, and wrote many books on Israeli history.
The President, Mrs Robinson, said last night she was deeply saddened to learn of Mr Herzog's death. In a statement, Mrs Robinson said: "His background gave, him a unique understanding of and interest in Ireland and the Irish people, and this interest never waned during his long and distinguished career.
A book of condolences will be open at the Israeli embassy, Carrisbrook House, 122 Pembroke Road, Dublin, today and on Monday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
To the end of his life Mr Herzog retained strong traces of an Irish accent, as well as a cupla focail, and he actively kept in touch with family and friends here. However, his hardline stance on Israel's foreign policy often put him at odds with more liberal opinion in Ireland. A state visit to Ireland in 1985 was marred by protests over Israel's support for militia groups in southern Lebanon.
Mr Herzog served as Israel's president for a decade until 1993.
He was born in September, 1918, off the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, but moved south less than a year later when his father was appointed Chief Rabbi in Dublin. His family lived in "Little Jerusalem" off the South Circular Road, in Bloomfield Avenue.
After attending Wesley College, he emigrated in 1935. Having graduated from Cambridge, served with distinction in the British army during the second World War. Yet once the war was over, he was soon in conflict with British during the last six of their mandate in Palestine.
Over 20 years, he rose through the ranks of the Israeli army become a major general. His intelligence expertise led to him be brought back for the Six Day in 1967 and later in the 1973 Arab Israeli war as a civilian spokesman. In the 1970s he built up an extensive legal practice, but moved on to a diplomatic career in 1975 when he was appointed Israel's ambassador to the US.
