Thomas Richard (“Tom”) Nides is vice chairman, strategy and client relations at Blackstone. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Nides served as the United States’ ambassador to Israel from 2021 to 2023. Prior to that, he spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley in various capacities including chief operating officer and vice chairman. Nides was appointed deputy secretary of state and chief operating officer of the US State Department by President Barack Obama and was awarded the nation’s highest diplomatic honor by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for his service. He has also previously been a senior leader at Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, the Office of the US Trade Representative, and on Capitol Hill.
Nides currently serves on the boards of the Partnership for Public Service, the International Rescue Committee, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He formerly served as chairman of the board of the Woodrow Wilson Center. He received his BA from the University of Minnesota.
It is an honor, pleasure and privilege to speak with you today.
It’s my honor.
You have done so many things that just juggling all of them alone is very admirable.
It’s complicated, but if we live in complicated times, we all have to wear multiple hats. I had Yoav Gallant here to see me yesterday. He’s a good guy.
You made many friends while you served as ambassador—probably before and after as well, but especially during that very important period.
I love the place, as you know. With all of its complications, I love the place.
Many US ambassadors who served in Israel ended up living there, but you came back to New York.
I’m living in both Washington and New York. My home is in Washington, but I have an apartment in New York and work here too.
But probably nothing beats serving as ambassador to Israel on behalf of the United States.
It was the greatest honor of my life to be the American ambassador. I’m the youngest of eight kids, I’m a Jew from Minnesota, my father was the head of the UJA and the president of the temple, and my mother was the head of Hadassah. I grew up as a Reform-cultural Jew, not as a religious one. But to be in Israel as the American ambassador—the most important partner of the State of Israel—regardless of what party you belong to, how cool is that? This was a hugely important chapter in my life.
I’m saying this half tongue in cheek, but thanks to Donald Trump, whom you didn’t support when he ran for president, you weren’t stuck in Tel Aviv but were able to live in Jerusalem instead.
You and I may have a little bit of differences of opinion on that, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t spend plenty of weekends in Tel Aviv. Bnei Brak is interesting, and I spent a bit of time there, but I’m not going to spend every Shabbat there… I was very close with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz of the Western Wall—I even hosted him in my house in Washington a few week ago—and he kept inviting me for dinner, but I was a bit hesitant. I finally went one night, and the food was so good that I went many times after that. He said, “Do you know why it’s so good? Because it’s glatt kosher.” I said, “I should have known that.”
What were some of the highlights of your time as ambassador?
I spent an enormous amount of time with every type of bloc. I’m not ideological when it comes to Israel, meaning that I spent a lot of time with the chareidi community, a lot of time with the Reform and peacenik guys, and everyone in between. I felt like I could meet with everyone and absorb the country for what it is.
What people don’t recognize is that Israel is a melting pot. There are nine and a half million people living in the State of Israel, seven million of whom are Jews. And of those seven million, about 1.4 million are chareidi, the vast majority are secular Jews, and everyone else is in between.
People don’t recognize what Israel is as a place. I spent a lot of time in the north and the south. Another thing was that I went to the home of every Israeli family who lost a family member to a terrorist attack. My Hebrew isn’t great, so sitting in the home of someone who doesn’t speak English and holding the hand of the father and the grandfather was an unbelievably humbling time for me. The experience was beyond words, and I’m forever grateful that President Biden gave me the honor to do it.
You seem to enjoy meeting people from diverse backgrounds.
Totally. I love spending time with Deri, for example; I sat with him at the rabbi’s house multiple times. I like spending time with people who have totally different views than I do. I’ve spent plenty of time with settlers even though I don’t agree with the settlement movement. During my first week in Israel, I was sitting in my hotel after I had done an interview with a magazine in which I said, “I won’t be able to visit the West Bank; I’m not going to go to one of the settlements. I’ll meet with the settlers elsewhere, but I won’t go there because I don’t think it’s appropriate.”
Rabbi Uri Pilichowski, an American who lives in Israel, wrote a letter and dropped it off at the Waldorf Hotel. He said, “You said you didn’t want to offend anyone, but you offended me by saying you wouldn’t visit any settlements.” I asked my staff who this guy is, and they said, “Eh, don’t worry about him.” I said, “I think I’m going to call him.” I called him and said, “You wrote that I offended you. Let’s get together and have lunch.” I probably spoke to him every single week during my time as ambassador. I disagreed with him, and he’s way more conservative than I am, but I enjoy talking to him very much. I don’t compromise my beliefs, but I can talk to anyone.
Why did you cut it short? You stepped down in middle of your tenure.
As you probably know, my wife didn’t come with me because she runs the news at CNN. She let me do it, but after more than two years she wanted me to come home… Poor Jack Lew came in middle of a war; he had to be a wartime ambassador and had a much harder time than I did. I had a much easier ambassadorship. I did have to deal with judicial reform and three prime ministers, but that was still easier.
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