In the coming days, the maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon will be signed, after many efforts by the countries’ teams that worked on it. What not many people know is that the mediator and one of the most significant people in this agreement, Amos Hochstein, is a Jewish guy who lived in Israel in the past and served in the IDF for three years. His perfect English and his unwillingness to speak Hebrew do mask this, but Hochstein has a high status in the corridors of the White House who is referred to by many as “Biden’s guy” – is a native of Jerusalem who was educated in the Zionist-religious youth movement “Bnei Akiva”.
The 49-year-old Hochstein was born in 1973 to a couple of immigrants from the USA, Susan and Mickey, in Jerusalem. He spent his first 20 years in the Holy Land, and spoke perfect Hebrew. Hochstein grew up in a religious home, and in his youth was active in the religious Zionist youth movement “Bnei Akiva”. His friend He later told the movement that Hochstein “had a different charm. Even then you could tell he could make things happen.”
Similar to successful diplomats in the US, Hochstein’s environment was an elitist environment: his parents were among the most powerful and influential in the religious-nationalist community in their area of Jerusalem, and they still live there to this day. From time to time, during his trips from Beirut to Washington, Amos comes to visit them at their home.
Amos Hochstein
Hochstein’s parents both worked in lucrative jobs: his father was a businessman and for many years headed the executive committee of the “Flech” religious girls’ high school. His mother was a central activist in the religious women’s forum “Kolach”, was a partner in various educational projects and even received the coveted title of the darling of the city of Jerusalem. An acquaintance of the family told “Yediot Ahronoth” that: “This is a very well-established family that is really devoted to public action. Even within the bourgeois society of Rehavia, they were considered really affluent and it can be said to their credit that they are invested, in a very broad way, in social activities. They also contribute their money, but more Importantly, they are very involved in themselves. There is a feeling of caring around them.”
Hochstein stood out socially from a young age. His friends describe him as “a guy with a side parted hairstyle, a small knitted cap hanging down, a classic Bnei Akiva boy.” He easily integrated into the Zionist-religious society, and his friends loved him. According to them, he was not a brilliant elitist, but he was a social guy involved in Jerusalem social life. In those years, the high school yeshiva “Nativ Meir” was the flagship yeshiva of religious Zionism. She raised well-known and respected rabbis, Israel Prize laureates, jurists, academics and military personnel. Hochstein studied at the yeshiva starting in 1987, but within two years he left it in favor of the “Hartman” high school. Five years later, he enlisted in the Armored Corps, and later moved to the IDF’s Foreign Relations Division.
In those years Hochstein apparently decided that his future was overseas. Upon his release from the IDF, he tried his luck in the US, and in a short time gained a position in the corridors of the American government. His landing was smooth, his integration was quick and he soon became a senior staff member on behalf of the Democratic Party in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Senate.
With Tom Nides, US Ambassador to Israel
Relative to a new guy in his position, without too rich a resume, Hochstein was powerful at this stage. Due to his position, he arrived in Iraq under the control of Saddam Hussein and worked for an agreement according to which the economic sanctions would be lifted from the country in exchange for the settlement of thousands of Palestinians there, and later he was sent to North Korea to see and closely investigate its situation.
During the terms of the Republican presidents, Hochstein chose to take a step back in his public activity. Hochstein is completely a member of the Democratic Party, and in the party he is highly respected. During part of the time of President Bush II, which began in 2001, he went into the private sector and advised oil and gas companies, and together with them he even advised leaders in the countries of the world. These days he studied energy and became an expert in the field, which will help him a lot in his positions in the White House. On the other hand, his work at the gas companies drew a great deal of suspicion towards him, which was expressed, among other things, in the statement of a senior official of an American environmental organization, who told The Post: “I’m not a big fan of Amos. I think of him as 100 percent an oil and gas person, not a climate person.”
During the Democratic President Obama’s term, Hochstein returned to public action and in 2011 began working at the US State Department, where he was the coordinator for international energy affairs. In this position, he continued to gain a lot of knowledge on the subject, and began to forge relationships with international personalities involved in the field. In those days, US Vice President Joe Biden had his eye on the successful young man and marked him as a man with whom he would like to cooperate in the future. With the victory of the Republicans led by Trump, he returned to the private market and worked for a Ukrainian gas company – from which he resigned three years later while publishing an article exposing corruption the company
Nasrallah against the American envoy for negotiations on the maritime border: “If you (the Lebanese government) want, continue the negotiations but not with Hochstein (the American envoy), Frankenstein or any Stein who comes to Lebanon” @coren_ido https://t.co/WzcagFfExU pic.twitter.com/pg69dIUAQ2
— roi kais • Roi Kays • Roi Kays (@kaisos1987) May 9, 2022
And what about Hochstein’s Judaism? He does not wear a kippah, but defines himself as Orthodox. Many in the Democratic Party even remember that seventeen years ago, Hochstein sat down with 25 other Jewish delegates on the floor of the Congress Center, and together they read the Book of Lamentations. Hochstein said about this that: “It was an exciting moment that I did not expect, a powerful statement. There is no other country in the world where representatives sit on the floor of the party conference and incorporate the reading of the Lamentations into the conference.”
After his rise to power, Biden recalled the talented guy he met at the US State Department, Hochstein. At first he wanted to appoint him as the US ambassador to Israel, but in the end chose him for the position of adviser to the president on energy. This position became an extremely important position in the last year, among other things following the Russia-Ukraine war that led to an increase in fuel and gas prices in the world. Hochstein became a key figure in the White House, which is intended with the president often and is in the most secret discussions the president participates in. Hochstein even wrote after Biden’s election to the presidency: “President Biden, today our country and world have really been saved, thank you President.”
Hochstein flew around the world and became the president’s emissary for various issues in the gas field. Among others, he was in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. With the help of the extensive knowledge he has gained on energy issues, he runs from place to place with the aim of solving international crises. A senior Lebanese official who negotiated with him said that he: “turned out to be a skilled negotiator with a sense of humor.” Undoubtedly, Biden puts his trust in Hochstein and according to an American source: “He doesn’t do this often.” Hochstein is considered close to Biden to such an extent that he is referred to as “Biden’s guy”. An American source even said that he: “I don’t know another person in the world, certainly not at the top political level, who comes close to Amos Hochstein in terms of understanding the reality of the energy industry.” Because of this, says the same source, Biden greatly appreciates Hochstein and trusts him. Many suspect that Biden was debating whether to put Hochstein in the position of Secretary of Climate Change Affairs John Kerry, and attribute the two to competition.
Hochstein also became a kind of emissary of the White House for gas matters in the media. His appearances on the various networks drew praise from the White House, and even from ordinary citizens who were impressed by his appearances.
The picture of the American mediator for the naval conflict, Amos Hochstein, is smeared this morning on the cover of the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Akhbar newspaper (normalizing?): “Hochstein is back – a clear concession or a ruse?” pic.twitter.com/meYIPUPFks
— roi kais • Roi Kays • Roi Kays (@kaisos1987) July 27, 2022
About a year ago, Biden sent Hochstein to obtain an agreement between Israel and Lebanon. Hochstein knows both sides well, and in the past was even the mediator in the negotiations between Jordan and Israel, which eventually resulted in a gas agreement between the countries. In Israel, at this stage, Hochstein was already known to Prime Minister Lapid, National Security Advisor Eyal Hulta, and members of the Shin Bet, Mossad, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . On the other hand, the Lebanese initially harassed Hochstein and did not trust him, but over time this also changed. An Israeli senior official privy to the details of the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon described Hochstein’s acceptance, saying: “We found it strange that the Lebanese accepted him as a mediator, knowing that he is Jewish and Israeli. But Hassan Nasrallah even mentioned him in one of his speeches. We said to ourselves, what, he won’t come to meet us and give us a point or two? But he maintained absolute neutrality – and we quickly understood where the wind was blowing.”
Now, Hochstein managed to successfully mediate between the two countries and lead to an agreement, even before the change of government in Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon announced that they approve the final draft that was forwarded to them from Hochstein and the US, the American mediator welcomed the “historic agreement” and in the coming days Israel and Lebanon will sign the agreement in the town of Nakoura on the border between the countries. It is not certain that this agreement would have been reached without the successful mediation of Hochstein, who already He has been hailed by many as a particularly successful broker.