Dear Friends,
As our brave IDF soldiers continue to combat Hamas terrorism in Operation Protective Edge, the Consulate General of Israel in New York is working hard to provide you with up to the minute background information, in-depth briefings, and firsthand accounts. Included below is a list of experts in Israel who are available for briefings, updates and phone interviews.
For further information and assistance, please email TalSigura@newyork.mfa.gov.il.
Professor Efraim Inbar
Efraim Inbar is a Professor in Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and Director of its renowned Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (the BESA Center).
Inbar was educated at the Hebrew University (B.A. in Political Science and English Literature) and at the University of Chicago (M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science). He served as visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University (2004), at Georgetown University (1991-92), and visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1996). Prof. Inbar was appointed as a Manfred Warner NATO Fellow (1998), was a visiting fellow at the (London) International Institute for Strategic Studies (2000), and was the recipient of the Onassis Fellowship (2003). He often lectures at institutions such as RAND, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Oxford, and Yale Universities.
Prof. Inbar was a member of the Political Strategic Committee of the National Planning Council and the Chair of the Committee for the National Security Curriculum at the Ministry of Education. He served on the Academic Committee of the History Department of the IDF and as the President of the Israel Association of International Studies. Prof. Inbar is widely quoted in the Israeli and international press.
Inbar’s area of specialization is Middle Eastern strategic issues with a special interest in the politics and strategy of Israeli national security.
Dr. Boaz Ganor
Dr. Boaz Ganor is the co-founder and Executive Director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), the Ronald Lauder Chair for Counter-Terrorism, the Deputy Dean of the Lauder School of Government, and the head of the Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security Studies Programs (Graduate degree, Executive program and Bachelor specialization) at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel. He is also the founder and President of the International Academic Counter-Terrorism Community (ICTAC), an international association of academic institutions, experts, and researchers in fields related to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism.
Dr. Ganor is a member of the International Advisory Council of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS), Nanyang Technological University, The Republic of Singapore. He is also co-founder of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR), a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania, USA; the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel; King’s College, London; and the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention (RCCP), Jordan. Dr. Ganor was a Senior Fellow at The Memorial Institute for Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), Oklahoma City, USA; and was a member of the International Advisory Team of the Manhattan Institute (CTCT) to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Dr. Uzi Rubin
Dr. Uzi Rubin is the President of Rubincon Defense Consulting Ltd. and has been involved in Israeli military research, development and engineering programs for almost forty years. Between 1991 and 1999 he served as head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, and in that capacity he oversaw the development of Israel’s Arrow anti-missile defense system. He was awarded the Israel Defense Prize in 1996 and again in 2003. He is a researcher with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Dr. Irwin (Yitzchak) Mansdorf
Dr. Irwin (Yitzchak) Mansdorf, is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He directs the Center’s Israel-Arab studies program for university students.
Dr. Mansdorf is available for interviews on the psychological strategies of Hamas in its conflict with Israel.
Ambassador Alan Baker
Ambassador Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.
Ambassador Baker served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel’s ambassador to Canada.
As the Legal Adviser of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was chiefly involved in advising the Government of Israel and related official bodies in matters of International Law and Middle East Peace negotiations. He also served as Coordinator of the Israel legal team preparing Israel’s case in the International Court of Justice on the issue of Israel’s security barrier.
In February 2012, Baker was Appointed member of the Government Commission to examine the status of building in Judea and Samaria (the Levy Commission).
Baker also served as Military Prosecutor and Senior Legal Officer in the International Law Branch of the Military Advocate General’s Unit, I.D.F., dealing in international humanitarian law, human rights law, law of armed conflict, criminal, military, maritime and aviation law
Baker is a Former partner in the Tel Aviv law firm of Moshe, Bloomfield, Kobo, Baker & Co.,
Colonel (rtd) Miri Eisin
Miri Eisin served in the Israeli intelligence community and retired from active duty at the rank of full colonel in 2004. Over her twenty year career in the military she served as the deputy head of the combat intelligence corps, the assistant to the director of Military intelligence and as the intel officer in combat units and research departments.
Miri is a member of the small group of women to achieve the rank of colonel in the Israeli Military (less than 2 %). She was appointed as the Israeli government spokesman during the second Lebanon war and then took the position of the Israeli Prime Ministers international media advisor. She served in that position until December 2007, including the challenging effort of the Annapolis conference. Miri has been Israel’s face and voice, presenting Israel’s case to the media worldwide.
Miri lectures on a variety of subjects relating to her background: the Israeli Arab conflict; Israeli decision making; women in Israeli society; the Israeli intelligence community and more.
Dr. Eitan Azani
Dr. Azani currently serves as deputy executive director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya. He is a Colonel (Res.) in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with operational, research and academic experience in counter-terrorism in the regional and international arenas.
As part of his position at ICT, Dr. Azani maintains working relations and advises both private and government entities on counter-terrorism issues. Dr. Azani lectures at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya and additional security and organizational establishments in Israel and abroad. He testifies on the subject of Hezbollah in front of the United States House of Representatives’ Committee on International Affairs as well as the European Parliament.
Eitan Azani obtained his B.A. in Economy, Political Science and Geography at Bar Ilan University, Israel and his M.A. (with honors) in the Security and Strategy Studies Program of Tel-Aviv University. Dr. Azani’s Ph.D. dissertation for the Hebrew University, Jerusalem was on “The Development of Revolutionary Islamic Movements a case study of Hezbollah.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg
Prof. Steinberg is professor of political studies, bar ilan university, and founded the program on conflict management and negotiation. He is also the founder/president of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based public affairs institute – awarded the 2013 begin prize. His research focuses on the changing nature of power in international relations, as reflected in middle east diplomacy and security, the politics of human rights and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Israeli politics and arms control.
Following the 1995 NPT Review Conference, Steinberg was Israel’s delegate to the IAEA’s academic conferences examining proposals of a Middle East Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction. He was awarded a prestigious Israel Science Foundation grant, (2008); served as team leader, Israel at the Polls chapters on the peace process and Israel-American relations (1988—2005); member of Israel Council of Foreign Affairs; advisory board of the Israel Law Review International; appointed to the Israel Higher-Education Council, Committee on Public Policy (2013); academic participant in the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism ICCA.
Steinberg is quoted in the New York TImes, interviewed on the BBC, NPR, CNN, CBC and other top media platforms and his op-ed columns are published in the Wall St. Journal, Financial Times, Ha’aretz, International Herald Tribune, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, and other publications.
Major General (rtd) Eitan Ben-Eliyahu
Eitan Ben-Eliyahu is a graduate of the USAF Air Combat School. During his term as Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force, the F-161 (“Sufa”) was acquired, Israel’s first female combat navigators graduated from pilot training, operation of the Arrow missile commenced, and the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, began his training with NASA. Eliyahu served in the capacity of Chief from 1996 until April 2000.
Professor Rabbi Sable
Educated at Carmel College, England, Hebrew Gymnasia Rehavia, LL.B, LL.M, PhD Hebrew University Jerusalem.
Former: Counselor for Political Affairs Israel Embassy Washington; The Legal Adviser Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director General for Arms Control and Disarmament; Head of Israel Delegation, Taba arbitration with Egypt; Member of delegation, peace talks with Egypt and Jordan and Palestinians. Arbitrator on the Appeals Panel of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.
Member of the Israel Bar. Personal rank of Ambassador granted by then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Publications include: PROCEDURE IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES, (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 2006); INTERNATIONAL LAW, with others, (Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, 2nd edition 2010).
Professor Yaffa Zilbershats
Yaffa Zilbershats was the dean of the law faculty at Bar Ilan University, from 2004-2007.
She received her LL.B from Bar Ilan’s Law Faculty, her LL.M in international legal studies from NYU and her Ph.D from Bar Ilan. Former president of the Supreme Court Aharon Barak together with Professor Hans Klinghoffer and Professor Aharon Enker supervised her doctoral thesis.
Zilbershats teaches and researches various aspects of international law and constitutional law. She has published numerous articles in these fields in peer reviewed journals and has also published a book in English on the Human Right to Citizenship.
Zilbershats is a member of various public committees, the Board of the Jewish Agency and officiates as the vice president of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.
Dr. Asaf Romirowsky
Middle East analyst Asaf Romirowsky is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and co-author of Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief. Dr. Romirowsky got his start in the policy world as a research fellow at the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank headed by scholar Daniel Pipes.
Dr. Romirowsky is a former IDF (Israel Defense Forces) International Relations liaison officer in the West Bank and to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Dr. Romirowsky holds a BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, masters degrees from Villanova University and West Chester University and a doctorate from Kings College London.
Dr. Romirowsky publishes widely in the national press as well as in scholarly journals and makes frequent appearances in the media. In addition, to lecturing and teaching to a wide range of audiences and programs around the world. He has traveled widely in Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories.