Member
International Advisory Council
Martin is best known, as to date, the only foreign-born United States Ambassador to Israel, a role he held from 1995 to 1997, and again from 2000 to 2001. Currently on the Advisory Board for ‘America Abroad Media’.
He was the first and, to date, the only foreign-born US ambassador to Israel.
Born in London in 1951, Martin grew up in Sydney, Australia. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1972. In 1973 he spent time volunteering on a kibbutz in Israel during the Yom Kippur War. He returned to Australia and enrolled at the Australian National University where he received a PhD in international relations in 1977.
Martin emigrated to the US in 1982 and began working as a deputy research director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). From 1985, he served eight years as the founding Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
He has been an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has also taught at Columbia University, the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, and Macquarie University in Sydney.
Martin has served Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in various roles. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the non-profit America Abroad Media.