Israeli citizens are poised to go to the polls March 17th to vote in an election that will determine who will be the next Prime Minister.  According to yesterday's New York Times front page story headlined, "Herzog Emerging as Credible Challenge to Netanyahu in Israeli Race," Labor Party leaders Isaac Herzog (pictured above) and Tzipi Livni, who are heading a new slate called the Zionist Union, are giving Benjamin Netanyahu a run for his money.  Herzog has a proud Irish heritage.  His father, Chaim Herzog, the former President of Israel was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin, and his grandfather, Isaac Herzog (who was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and a close confidant of Eamon de Valera), later became the first Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel.  

For more on the fascinating Herzog family history, read the blog New Israeli Labor Party Chief's Irish Roots Run Deep.