At 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, the US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro woke the chairman of the Labor Party, Knesset member Isaac Herzog. Shapiro asked Herzog over the phone if he would be willing to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry the next day. A few hours later, the chairman of the opposition was having breakfast with Kerry, who had just returned to Israel after a visit to Saudi Arabia and Jordan. He was full of energy and determined to achieve the impossible and reach a diplomatic agreement. Herzog was impressed by Kerry’s genuine concern about what might happen in the region if the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians do not advance on a more concrete track.
A few hours earlier, Herzog attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the dais of the Labor Party conference and wondered if Netanyahu has a strong enough spine to lead the country toward a historic agreement with the Palestinians.