Israel Completes Purchase of Washington DC Home for Israeli Ambassador

Israel has completed the purchase of an official residence for its ambassador in Washington.

Michael Herzog will be moving into an 11-bedroom, 12-bathroom home with a listing price of $10 million, Jewish Insider reported on Thursday. It is located in the upscale neighborhood of Forest Hills in the northwest quadrant of the U.S. capital.

Herzog, 71, the older brother of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, has been living in hotels and rental properties since taking up the post in November 2021. He will likely move in within the next month, an embassy source told Jewish Insider.

“After almost 10 years of temporary housing, the State of Israel has decided to purchase an official residence to provide a long-term solution for its ambassador,” the source said.

Israel has rented properties for its D.C. ambassadors since 2013, when the previous official residence on Chesapeake Street NW was abandoned due to unlivable conditions. The residence that was used by every Israeli ambassador since the 1960s was condemned and eventually torn down.

According to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, the Forest Hills neighborhood became predominately Jewish in the 1940s and 1950s due to an absence of restricted housing covenants.