Dr. Dore Gold, an eloquent former Israel ambassador to the United Nations (1997–1999) and a foreign policy advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, passed away at the age of 71 on Monday.
Gold also served as director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015–2016).
For 22 years, starting in 2000, Gold served as president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, now the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

Gold received a doctorate from New York’s Columbia University, specializing in Middle Eastern policy. His doctoral thesis was on the subject of the Saudis. He made aliyah in 1980.

“Dore was the consummate scholar-diplomat. He brought a level of intellectual, academic and moral excellence to all of his public roles,” Dan Diker, the Jerusalem center’s current president, told JNS.

“At that time, there weren’t many diplomats who were also PhDs. He brought a whole other level of depth, intellectual and academic vitality,” he said.

“He conceded his American citizenship to become Israel’s U.N. ambassador, which he filled with the greatest of academic and intellectual distinction. That was the unique aspect which he brought to the position,” Diker added.
Gold also broke new ground for American olim, or immigrants, to serve at the highest levels of Israel’s government.
“An American-born Israeli from Connecticut, he was known as the ‘Yankee-Israeli,’” said Diker. “He paved the way for those who came after.”
Prominent American-Israelis who have followed in Gold’s footsteps include Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, currently Minister of Strategic Affairs, and Caroline Glick, a former JNS senior contributing editor recently tapped to serve as International Affairs Advisor to the prime minister.
“He was highly regarded by Prime Minister Netanyahu as one of his most trusted and faithful advisers,” noted Diker.
The prime minister released a statement on Gold’s death, describing him as “a prolific academic researcher, brilliant Israeli diplomat and close personal friend.
“Dore accompanied me for over three decades as a dedicated public servant without peer,” Netanyahu said. “He was endowed with a unique intellectual integrity, working ability and a genuine love for the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu also credited Gold with contributing to the Abraham Accords, the 2020 normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries.
Dore Gold. 
“Our country will miss Dore; my wife and I will miss him. Sara and I convey our deepest condolences to his wife Ofra and his family.
May his memory be blessed,” Netanyahu said.
Gold became foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu during the latter’s first term. He served in the role from June 1996 to June 1997.
Gold already was working with Netanyahu when he became head of the Likud Party in 1993, Diker said.
Gold was directly involved in the negotiations leading up to the 1997 Hebron Agreement and the “Note of the Record,” which Gold was very proud of as it kept the P.A. out of Jerusalem, Diker noted.
Netanyahu and Gold were handed the Oslo Accords from the previous administration but “Dore took a very critical view of Oslo from the first moment,” said Diker.
“I remember talking with him about it as it was being authored and signed. This is back in 1993. And he said, ‘They want Jerusalem.’ And he was right. He forecasted it absolutely correctly. It all exploded around Jerusalem in 2000,” he said.
Gold stressed Israel’s historical and legal rights at a time when others did not. Diker termed it “rights-based diplomacy.” Gold noted that the Palestinian Arab side focused on rights while Israel focused only on security, and that Israel must also assert its rights.
“He was an innovator,” Italian-Israeli journalist and former Italian parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein told JNS. She considered Gold a close friend.
“You have to think about the mentality that existed for so many years where we must make peace, the occupation is something we must feel guilty about. Gold comes along and talked about Israel’s legitimate rights,” she said.
“When he gave his great speeches about Jerusalem, the origins of Jerusalem, the Jewish people and Jerusalem, he really moved beyond the politician to become the historian that he has always been,” she added.
Harold Rhode, a former advisor on Islamic affairs in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, told JNS that Gold had foresight. He grasped the importance of understanding the other side’s mentality.
Rhode, who went to university in Iran and speaks Persian, related how Gold approached him to write a piece about Iranian negotiating behavior. The result, “The Sources of Iranian Negotiating Behavior,” is still consulted today, he said.
“He understood that something like that would be extremely useful for anybody trying to deal with the Iranians,” said Rhode. “I don’t think anything has been published [on the topic] besides. And it was Dore’s initiative.”
“If you’re trying to deal with the other, whether it’s Turks, Persians, or Arabs, you must understand their psyche, how they think. And shall we say, that understanding is not often found among diplomats,” he said.
“Dore understood why it was so important. Dore was interested in these things because they can make and break friendships or connections. They can make or break negotiations,” Rhode said.
Gold authored numerous books and articles on the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli deterrence policy, and regional terrorism threats.
His books were New York Times bestsellers, including Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism, The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West and The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City, in which he analyzed Arab hostility toward Israel and the diplomatic battle over Yerushalayim’s status.
Gold’s levayah is scheduled to take place today at the Kehilat Yerushalayim funeral home on Har HaMenuchos in Yerushalayim.
He leaves behind his wife Ofra, two children, and six grandchildren. JNS
{Matzav.com}