Dore Gold, a prominent diplomat, scholar, and long-time foreign-policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed away on Monday. He was 71.
Before there was Ron Dermer, there was Gold, a kippah-clad American immigrant who whispered in the ear of Netanyahu, became one of his longest-serving and most trusted advisers, held prominent government positions, and was a major force in charting Israel’s diplomatic strategy.
“For over three decades, Dore accompanied me as a dedicated public servant without peer,” Netanyahu said. “He was endowed with unique intellectual integrity, capability for action, and genuine love for the State of Israel. This was coupled with an enthusiastic Zionist vision and sharp analytical ability that was beneficial for Israel in the international arena.”
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1953, Isidor “Dore” Gold was raised in a Conservative Jewish home. He attended Columbia University, eventually earning a PhD in political science and Middle Eastern studies.
His doctoral dissertation was on Saudi Arabia and laid the foundation for one of his six books, the 2003 New York Times bestseller Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism.
The book, published in the wake of 9/11, argued that Saudi Arabia, through its adherence to and promotion of Wahhabi Islam, played a central and dangerous role in fostering global terrorism and contributed to the rise of groups like al-Qaeda.
Despite this critical stance, Gold was instrumental in facilitating dialogue between Israel and Saudi officials and—as Netanyahu noted—played a significant role in advancing the Abraham Accords.
Gold moved to Israel in 1980 and—after a stint studying in a Jerusalem yeshiva for English speakers and then serving in the IDF—began his academic career at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University as a senior research associate.
He then went on to Tel Aviv University’s Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies (now INSS), where he directed its US Foreign and Defense Policy Project from 1987–1996.
Top foreign policy advisor
Netanyahu plucked Gold from academia in the early 1990s and made him one of his top foreign-policy advisers, recognizing him as a sharp strategist with no political ambitions of his own. Their shared worldview and mutual trust made Gold a fixture in Netanyahu’s foreign-policy team for years.
In a 2016 PBS interview, Gold recalled their first meeting in 1989 – an encounter that would launch his diplomatic career: “He [Netanyahu] came back from the UN. He was deputy foreign minister, and [then-secretary of state] James Baker had just given a rather controversial speech at AIPAC, and I came for my first meeting with him, and he handed me the speech. He says, ‘Would you sit at the typewriter and write me an analysis of it?’”
Gold analyzed the speech – he called it “baptism by fire” – and from that moment, their relationship grew.
In 1991, Gold served as an adviser to the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference and subsequent negotiations in Washington, DC. He played a key role in establishing a relationship between the Likud Party and the Jordanians, brokering the first meeting between Netanyahu, when he was the head of the opposition in the early 1990s, and King Hussein.
Gold served as a foreign-policy adviser to Netanyahu from 1996-1997 during his first term and then was appointed by Netanyahu as ambassador to the UN, a position he held until 1999, when Netanyahu lost the election to Ehud Barak.
In 2000, Gold became president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which he helped transform into a leading Israeli think tank. From 2001-2003, he also served as a foreign-policy adviser to then prime minister Ariel Sharon.In 2014, Gold became an “outside consultant” to Netanyahu, and a year later, Netanyahu selected him to serve as director-general of the Foreign Ministry, a position he held until October 2016.
During this period, Gold oversaw a flowering of diplomatic relations with countries in Africa and Asia and helped lay the groundwork for relations with the Gulf States as well.
When Gold left that position, he said, “the role of director-general of the Foreign Ministry was a professional and personal peak in all the years that I served on the diplomatic front.”
He then returned to the JCPA, where he remained president until 2022.
Gold was one of Israel’s foremost and articulate spokesmen throughout his career. He wrote countless op-eds for leading newspapers worldwide, defended Israel clearly, calmly, and unapologetically in media appearances, and explained Israeli policy at international conferences.
He was a regular speaker before foreign-policy committees in parliaments around the world, focusing in later years on the Jewish people’s historical connection to Jerusalem and the absolute necessity for Israel to have “defensible borders.”
Journalists and diplomats sought Gold out for several reasons: because of his knowledge of the issues, because he was considered close to Netanyahu and able to reflect his thinking, and because he was honest, straightforward, and approachable.
Having given thousands of interviews, he was a master at it – careful to answer only the question asked and never allowing an interviewer to steer him into unwanted territory.
Gold was unflappable in his appearances in the world media and when interviewed by the Israeli press, speaking Hebrew with his distinctive American accent.
It says much about Gold that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, in praising his contributions to Israeli diplomacy on Monday, underlined that he was a man of high moral character. That was something evident to all those who, over Gold’s long years in the public’s eye, had any dealings with him.
Dr. Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs and Security Affairs (formerly the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs), eulogized Dr. Gold: "Dore was one of Israel’s most respected diplomats, setting a high standard for academic excellence, diplomatic vision, and exceptional communication skills in his various roles. He left a unique and significant mark on the Jerusalem Center, the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the international community as a whole. His legacy of moral integrity and unwavering commitment to defending Israel and the Jewish people will forever be remembered by all who had the privilege of working with him. He was my personal mentor."
He is survived by his wife, Ofra, two children, and six grandchildren.