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Martin Sean Indyk (July 1, 1951 – July 25, 2024) was an Australian-American diplomat and foreign relations analyst with expertise in the Middle East.
Indyk was a distinguished fellow in International Diplomacy and later executive vice president at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2018.
Indyk served twice as United States Ambassador to Israel (1995–1997; 2000–2001) and also as Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Clinton Administration.
Indyk graduated from the University of Sydney in 1972 with a Bachelor of Economics. He then moved to Israel to take postgraduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While was living in Jerusalem preparing for university courses, the Yom Kippur War broke out, and Indyk spent the rest of the war volunteering on kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel, an experience he called "a defining moment in my life." Indyk stated that he had even considered aliyah at the time.Nathan Guttman, "Mideast Mediator Martin Indyk Draws Ire From Both Sides of Israeli Spectrum" , Jewish Daily Forward (August 2, 2013). Indyk's third chance He returned to graduate school and received a PhD in international relations from the Australian National University in 1977.
Indyk immigrated to the United States in 1982 and started work with a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1993, a week before joining the National Security Council.Al Kamen, Inside: State , Washington Post (February 2, 1995). Indyk was a Reform Judaism.Thomas Gorguissaian, Al Ahram International 24 September – 4 October 2000
Indyk married Jill Collier, with whom he had two children, Sarah and Jacob. They later divorced. In 2013, he married Gahl Hodges Burt, a former aide to Henry Kissinger and a White House social secretary during the Ronald Reagan administration.
Indyk was an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he taught Israeli politics and foreign policy. Indyk also 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 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.
Indyk served as special assistant to President Bill Clinton and as senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the 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.
Indyk served on the board of the New Israel Fund. Indyk later served on the advisory board for DC based non-profit America Abroad Media.
On 29 July 2013, Indyk took leave from the Brookings Institution and was appointed by President Barack Obama as Washington's special Middle East envoy for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas favored his appointment. He resigned from this position June 27, 2014, returning to the Brookings Institution as its vice president and director for foreign policy. In 2018, he left Brookings for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Indyk was a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2018 until his death in 2024.
Indyk was "apparently ... the first serving U.S. ambassador to be stripped of government security clearance." The Los Angeles Times reported that "veteran diplomats complained that Indyk was being made a scapegoat for the kinds of security lapses that are rather common among envoys who take classified work home from the office." Indyk's clearance was suspended but was reinstated the next month, "for the duration of the current crisis," given "the continuing turmoil in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip Strip and for compelling national security reasons."
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 funds Jihadism 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." Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal, who directs Hamas's operations against Israel, is also harbored by Qatar. 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." However, the arrangement between Qatar and Brookings caused Israeli government officials to doubt Indyk's impartiality.
Isi Leibler criticized Indyk in a 2010 Jerusalem Post op-ed, calling him an "anti-Israel apologist."Isi Leibler, From pro-Israel to anti-Israel apologist , Jerusalem Post (April 29, 2010). In 2014, Haaretz reported that "Indyk is being identified in Jerusalem as the anonymous source" in an article by Nahum Barnea of the Yedioth Ahronoth, "in which unnamed American officials blamed Israel for the failure of the peace talks." 'US envoy to resign after blaming settlements for talks failure' , Jewish Telegraphic Agency & Times of Israel Staff (May 5, 2014). The anonymous source in Yediot Acharonot was quoted as saying: "The Jewish people are supposed to be smart; it is true that they’re also considered a stubborn nation. You're supposed to know how to read the map: In the 21st century, the world will not keep tolerating the Israeli occupation. The occupation threatens Israel's status in the world and threatens Israel as a Jewish state...The Palestinians are tired of the status quo. They will get their state in the end – whether through violence or by turning to international organizations." The remarks angered Israeli officials.
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