Herzog teases Netanyahu in interview as incoming Jewish Agency chief

Isaac Herzog, the incoming chairman of the Jewish Agency, appears to take a playful dig at Prime Minister Netanyahu in an interview with The Associated Press.

Three years after narrowly missing out on becoming prime minister, losing to Netanyahu, Herzog says he looks forward to becoming the “prime minister of the Jewish people” in his new role.

Netanyahu has reportedly referred to the position at the helm of the Jewish Agency in similar terms when discussing Herzog’s appointment, which he opposed and which was seen as a move by the Agency to defy the prime minister’s policies vis-a-vis Diaspora Jewry.

“It’s a very important position, you’ll be prime minister of the Jewish people, they told me,” Haaretz quoted him as saying during a recent meeting on the matter, recalling that he had himself turned down the position in 1988 in favor of a political career that saw ascend to the premiership. “I thought it over and rejected the idea. There were other volunteers.”

Herzog took the opposite route.

“I was ready to be prime minister of Israel. I wanted to be prime minister of Israel. And yet, now I am actually intrigued by this new challenge,” he tells the AP from his nearly vacated office in the Knesset, where he has just resigned after 15 years.

— with AP