Key People

Ambassador Dore Gold - President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
    Ambassador Dore Gold served as Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1997-1999). Previously, he served as foreign policy advisor to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has served as an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was a member of the Israeli delegation at the 1998 Wye River negotiations between Israel and the PLO, and served as an advisor to the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991.
    His books include: The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Tehran Defies the West (Regnery, 2009); The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City (Regnery, 2007); Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos (Three Rivers Press, 2005); Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism (Regnery, 2003); and U.S. Military Strategy in the Middle East (Ministry of Defense, 1993).

Professor Daniel J. Elazar, z"l - Founder of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
    Professor Daniel J. Elazar (1934-1999) was a leading political scientist and specialist in the study of the Jewish political tradition, Israel, the world Jewish community, federalism, and political culture. He was Professor of Political Science at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he founded the Center for the Study of Federalism, and held the Senator N.M. Paterson Professorship in Intergovernmental Relations at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, heading its Institute for Local Government. Professor Elazar was the author or editor of more than 60 books, and founded and edited the scholarly journal Jewish Political Studies Review.

Steering Committee of the Board of Fellows

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, Chairman
Prof. Yakir Plessner, Vice Chairman
Prof. Shmuel Sandler, Secretary
Prof. Efraim Torgovnik, Treasurer
Prof. Rela M. Geffen, Assoc. Secretary-Treasurer
Prof. Arthur Eidelman
Zvi R. Marom

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld - Chairman of the Board of Fellows
    Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, an international consultant specializing in business and environmental strategy for multinational corporations, is the Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is the founder and director of the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs and edits its monthly publication. He also founded the Jewish Environmental Perspectives newsletter. Dr. Gerstenfeld's most recent book is American Jewry's Challenge: Addressing the 21st Century, part of the project "Jews in the American Public Square" initiated by the Pew Charitable Trusts. His publications include Europe's Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today's Anti-Semitism (2003); "The Academic Boycott Against Israel" (2003); "The Mahathir Affair: A Case Study in Mainstream Islamic Anti-Semitism" (2003); and "Jewish War Claims in The Netherlands: A Case Study" (2000); Academics Against Israel and the Jews (2007); Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews (2008).

Chaya Herskovic - Director General
    Chaya Herskovic, named as Director General of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in July 2004, served since 1988 as the Jerusalem Center's Director of Projects, responsible for the organization and management of numerous Jerusalem Center research projects, conferences, and seminars in a variety of fields including privatization, education, law enforcement, local government, Israel's political system, and the Druze minority. She has also been responsible for the editing and production of the Center's Hebrew publications.

Who's Who at the Jerusalem Center (in alphabetical order):

Alexander Arndt - Editor, German Website
    Alexander Arndt is the editor of the German JCPA-website „Jerusalem Zentrum“ and currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He is member of the Coordinating Council of German NGOs against Anti-Semitism. He has worked for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs before, from 2006 to 2007. Previously, he worked for the Aspen Institute Berlin, where he focused on transatlantic partnership and European-Israeli relations. He is co-running “Knowing Israel”, a study-tour program for young European journalists. Alexander Arndt graduated from the University of Potsdam with an M.A. in History/American studies and from the University of Connecticut with an M.A. in German Studies. His research interests focus on Middle East Studies, German-Jewish/Israeli Studies, Holocaust Studies, Anti-Semitism Studies, and intercultural communication.

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror - Program Chairman, Institute for Contemporary Affairs
    Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, Program Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs, is former commander of the IDF's National Defense College and the IDF Staff and Command College. He is also the former head of the IDF's research and assessment division, with special responsibility for preparing the National Intelligence Assessment. In addition, he served as the military secretary of the Minister of Defense. His publications include "The Geneva Accord: A Strategic Assessment" (December 2003); "Israel's Strategy after the Iraq War" (April 2003); "Israel's Strategy in Curbing Palestinian Violence" (December 2002); "Halting Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program: Iranian Vulnerabilities and Western Policy Options" (2007).

Mark Ami-El - Director of Publications
    Mark Ami-El has been responsible for editing and production of JCPA's English books, monographs, newsletters, website, and Internet publications since 1986. He is managing editor of JCPA's Daily Alert Internet digest of Israel and Mideast news, as well as the Center's Jerusalem Viewpoints and Jerusalem Issue Briefs. He served as assistant to Jerusalem Center Founding President Daniel J. Elazar from 1985 to 1999, and as press and legislative assistant to Congressman William Lehman (D-Fla.) from 1973 to 1978.

Dr. Abraham Bell - Director, Israel and International Law Project
    Dr. Avi Bell is a member of the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, Visiting Professor at Connecticut University Law School, and Director of the International Law Forum at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is an expert in property law and theory, public international law and theory, and public law. His publications include The Giving and Taking of Property (2007), "The Dispensable United Nations, Debate: Is the United Nations Still Relevant?", "Taking Compensation Private," and "The Uselessness of Public Use."

Lenny Ben-David - Consultant, Internet Publications
    Lenny Ben-David is consulting editor for the Daily Alert Internet news digest. He served as deputy chief of mission at Israel's embassy in Washington 1997-2000, and as Program Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs (2002-2004). He was AIPAC's Director of Information and Research for 10 years, editing the Near East Report and numerous editions of Myths and Facts, then opened AIPAC's first Israel office in 1982, directing it for nearly 15 years.

Dan Diker - Program Director, Institute for Contemporary Affairs
    Dan Diker is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and is a policy analyst for the JCPA. He also serves as guest analyst for Israel Broadcasting Authority's English News. His most recent publications include "Sharon’s Legacy for Israel: Competing Perspectives" (Jan. 2006), "The Murder of Musa Arafat and the Battle for the Spoils of Gaza" with Pinchas Inbari (Oct. 2005), "Are There Signs of a Jordanian-Palestinian Reengagement?" with Pinchas Inbari (July 2005), "The Expulsion of the Palestinian Authority from Jerusalem and the Temple Mount" (August 2004), "The Struggle of Palestinian Journalists for Freedom of the Press" (May 2004), and "Iran's Race for Regional Supremacy: Strategic Implications for the Middle East."

Ambassador Freddy Eytan - Director of Le Cape 
    Ambassador Freddy Eytan, a former Foreign Ministry senior advisor who served in Israel's embassies in Paris and in Brussels, was Israel's first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The Israel-Europe Project focuses on presenting Israel's case in the countries of Europe, and seeks to develop ties and avenues of cooperation throughout Europe. His most recent books include La Poudriere (The Powder Keg) (1991), Shimon Peres - Biographie (1996), Keren Or (Ray of Light) (2004), and France: Le Double Jeu (Double Game) (2004) Les 18 Que Ont Fait Israel (The 18 Who Built Israel). He is also the director of the new Jerusalem Center website in French.

Professor Rela M. Geffen - Director, North American Office
    Professor Geffen is the President of Baltimore Hebrew University and former Dean of Gratz College. A founding Fellow of the Center for Jewish Community Studies, the forerunner of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, her books include The Conservative Movement in Judaism: Dilemmas & Opportunities (2000); Freedom and Responsibility: Exploring the Challenges of Jewish Continuity (1998); and Celebration and Renewal: Rites of Passage in Judaism (1993).

Pinhas Inbari - Consultant, Hebrew Website
     Pinhas Inbari is a veteran Palestinian affairs correspondent who formerly reported for Israel Radio and Al Hamishmar newspaper, and currently reports for several foreign media outlets. He is the author of a number of books on the Palestinians including The Palestinians: Between Terrorism and Statehood.

Zvi R. Marom - Former Director General
    Zvi R. Marom served as Director General of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs from 1984 to 2003. He was particularly involved in the Center's research projects on electoral and constitutional reform, privatization of Israel's economy, forecasting Israel's law enforcement needs, the study of educational systems, and the Druze minority. Prior to joining the JCPA, he held a variety of senior positions at the Prime Minister's Office and retired with the equivalent rank of Major General.

Zvi Mazel - Director, Arabic Website
    Zvi Mazel recently completed his tour as Israel's Ambassador to Sweden. From 1996 to 2001 he served as Israel's Ambassador to Egypt. He also held senior positions in Israel's Foreign Ministry as director of the Eastern European division and head of the Egyptian and North African department. He is the director of the Center's Arabic website in addition to writing for the Hebrew website. Zvi Mazel is an expert on Arab media.  

Ashley Perry - Editor, Middle East Strategic Information and Coordinator of European Websites
   Ashley Perry is a political analyst who has served in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and worked with many Israel governmental and non-governmental organisations. He is also a freelance editor and journalist. He was formerly editor of Israel Campus Beat and Israel Highway as well as Development Coordinator for the Jewish People's Project.

Professor Shmuel Sandler - Editor, Jewish Political Studies Review
    Professor Sandler, director of the Center for International Communications and Policy and chairperson of the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University, is Secretary of the JCPA Steering Committee. He has served as co-editor of the Jerusalem Center's Israel at the Polls series for the elections of 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2003. His other books include The Arab-Israeli Conflict Transformed: Fifty Years of Interstate and Ethnic Crises (2002); and The State of Israel, The Land of Israel: Statist and Ethnonational Dimensions of Foreign Policy (1993).

David Schenker, Senior Researcher
   David Schenker is a senior fellow in Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. From 2002 to 2006, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as country director for Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. He is a member of the Board of Advisers of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Brig. Gen (res.) Dr. Shimon Shapira - Consultant
    Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Shimon Shapira is the author of Hizballah: Between Iran and Lebanon, 4th ed. (Tel Aviv: Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University, 2006). He is a senior research associate at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.

Sharon Shenhav - Director, International Jewish Women's Rights Project
    Sharon Shenhav, an international women's rights lawyer, founded the International Jewish Women's Rights Project in 1998, in cooperation with the International Council of Jewish Women, to help end discrimination against women in marriage, divorce, and family law. She has been a member of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and currently serves as the only woman on the Commission to Appoint Religious Court Judges (Dayanim) in Israel.

Professor Gerald M. Steinberg - Editor, NGO Monitor
    Professor Steinberg is director of the Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation at Bar-Ilan University. A consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Council, he specializes in Middle East diplomatic and security issues with an emphasis on arms control and CBMs, Middle East peace efforts, Israeli foreign and security policy, and the U.S.-Israeli relationship. In addition Professor Steinberg has authored several analysis papers at the Jerusalem Center.

Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum - Senior Researcher
Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum, Visiting Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is Senior Research Fellow, Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University, and Rosenbloom Israeli Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University. He has authored and edited several books on the modern Middle East. His latest is Political Liberalization in the Persian Gulf, forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

Dr. Mikael Tossavainen – Director of Research, Institute for Global Jewish Affairs 
   Dr. Mikael Tossavainen is a historian who has done research on several fields, including Muslim and Arab anti-Semitism and the place of the Holocaust in post-War European historical culture. Beyond his dissertation, Heroes and Victims. The Holocaust in Israeli Historical Consciousness (Lund University, 2006), Dr. Tossavainen has also published several academic articles on the Holocaust and Israeli society as well as anti-Semitism. Dr. Tossavainen is the Managing Editor of the Jewish Political Studies Review. He also works at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. 

Justus Reid Weiner - Scholar-in-Residence
    Justus Weiner is an international human rights lawyer and a member of the Israel and New York Bar Associations. His publications include Illegal Construction in Jerusalem (2003); "The Use of Palestinian Children in the Al-Aqsa Intifada" (Jerusalem Letter, 2000), and "'My Beautiful Old House' and Other Fabrications by Edward Said" (Commentary, 1999). He also is a researcher for the Jerusalem Center's Global Law Forum.

Administrative Personnel

Projects Director: Edna Weinstock-Gabay
Institute for Contemporary Affairs Project Coordinator: Adam Shay
Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism Project Coordinator: Tamas Berzi
Internet Marketing Coordinator: Ilene Rosenblum 
Communications Coordinator: Judy Balint
Bookkeeper: Esther Zalis
Hebrew Website Coordinator: Shlomo Blass
Secretaries: Rachel Elrom, Odelia Zaguri

Fellows

Chairman of Board of Directors:
    Manfred Gerstenfeld, Jerusalem ***

Mordechai Abir, Jerusalem
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, Jerusalem
Yehuda Avner, Jerusalem
Ella Belfer, Ramat Gan
Gabriel Ben-Dor, Haifa
Eytan Bentsur, Jerusalem
Marshall Breger, Washington, DC
Michael Brown, Toronto
Steven M. Cohen, Jerusalem
Arthur I. Eidelman, M.D. Jerusalem ***
Ambassador Freddy Eytan, Jerusalem
Joel Fishman, Jerusalem
Rela Mintz Geffen, Philadelphia ***
Manfred Gerstenfeld, Jerusalem ***
Allen Glicksman, Philadelphia
Dore Gold, Jerusalem
Jonathan D. Halevi, Tel Aviv
Aryeh Hecht, Jerusalem
Efraim Inbar, Jerusalem
Raphael Israeli, Jerusalem
Leon A. Jick, Boston
Chaim Kalchheim, Jerusalem
Irit Kohn, Jerusalem
Jacob Landau, Jerusalem
Ruth Lapidoth, Jerusalem
Robert Licht, Philadelphia
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Atlanta
Zvi R. Marom, Ramat Hasharon
Zvi Mazel
Avraham Melamed, Haifa
Reuven Merhav, Jerusalem
Alan Mittleman, Allentown, PA
Yakir Plessner, Rehovot ***
Meir Rosenne, Jerusalem
Mordechai Rotenberg, Jerusalem
Colin Rubenstein, Melbourne
Shmuel Sandler, Jerusalem ***
Jonathan Sarna, Newton, MA
Ismar Schorsch, New York
Dan Segre, Jerusalem
Steven Spiegel, Los Angeles
Gerald M. Steinberg, Jerusalem
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, New York
Efraim Torgovnik, Tel Aviv ***
Shmuel Trigano, Paris
Ilan Troen, Beersheva
Mervin F. Verbit, New York
Harold M. Waller, Montreal
Justus Weiner, Jerusalem
Howard Weisband, Jerusalem
Steven Windmueller, Los Angeles
Jonathan Woocher, Maplewood, N.J.
Nathan Yanai, Haifa
Ben Zion Zilberfarb, Jerusalem

*** Member of Board of Directors

Board of Overseers

Caryn Rosen Adelman, Chicago
Gabriel Bach, Jerusalem
Mandell Berman, Detroit **
Herschel Blumberg, Washington, DC
Sidney N. Busis, M.D., Pittsburgh
Shoshana Cardin, Baltimore *
Betsy Cohen, Philadelphia
Edward Cohen, Philadelphia
Edward S. Cohen, Jerusalem *
Avern Cohn, Detroit
Harriet Elazar, Jerusalem
Raymond Epstein, Chicago
Jesse Feldman, San Francisco
Abraham J. Gafni, Philadelphia *
Byron H. Gerson, Franklin, MI
Betsy Gidwitz, Chicago *
Conrad Giles, Detroit
Robert B. Goldmann, New York
Richard S. Gunther, Los Angeles
Ivan Himmel, Chicago *
Irwin Hochberg, New York *
Max Kampelman, Washington, DC
Ted Kanner, Los Angeles
Edward Kaplan, Washington, DC
Ron Kaufman, San Francisco
Henry Koschitsky, Ontario
Esther R. Landa, Salt Lake City
Betsy Landis, New York
Donald Landis, New York
Isi Leibler, Jerusalem
Julius Lesner, Los Angeles
H. Irwin Levy, West Palm Beach *
Norman Lipoff, Miami *
Haskell Lookstein, New York
Robert E. Loup, Denver
Uriel Lynn, Tel Aviv
Phyllis Margolius, Washington, DC
Lowell Milken, Los Angeles
Alan Molod, Philadelphia
Alberto Nasser, Rio de Janiero
Moshe Nissim, Jerusalem
Robert A. Riesman, Providence
Michael Rukin, Boston
Jack Rose, Toronto *
David G. Sacks, New York
Avraham Schenker, Tel Aviv
Miriam Schneirov, Philadelphia *
Frank Schochet, Minneapolis
Robert Shafton, Los Angeles
Daniel Shapiro, New York
Meir Sheetrit, Yavne
Zalman Shoval, Tel Aviv *
Matthew Simon, Washington, DC
Yoash Tsiddon-Chatto, Tel Aviv
Barbi Weinberg, Los Angeles
Lawrence Weinberg, Los Angeles
Maynard Wishner, Chicago
George M. Zeltzer, Detroit

* Member of the Executive Committee
** Chairman of the Executive Committee

Associates

Irving Abella, Toronto
Zeidan Atashi, Ussifiya
Michael J. Bazyler, USA
Irwin Cotler, Montreal
Eliezer Don-Yehiya, Rishon le-Zion
Moshe Drori, Jerusalem
Nitza Druyan, Plainview, NY
Simon Zeev Erlanger, Switzerland
Andre Eshet, Haifa
Robert Freedman, Baltimore
Gordon Freeman, Walnut Creek, CA
Harvey Goldberg, Jerusalem
Sidney Goldstein, Providence
George Gruen, New York
Vladimir Khanin, Jerusalem
Samuel Klausner, Philadelphia
Jerome Kutnick, Philadelphia
Fadal Mansur, Haifa
Ivan Marcus, New York
Chaim Milikovsky, Jerusalem
Alberto Milkowitz, Sao Paulo
Ben Mollov, Jerusalem
Fiamma Nirenstein, Jerusalem/Italy
Gustavo Perednik, Efrat
Earl Raab, Waltham, MA
Ira Robinson, Montreal
David Schnall, New York
Carl Schrag, Chicago
Ze'ev Segal, Tel Aviv
Sharon Shenhav, Jerusalem
Max Singer, Baltimore
Baruch Susser, Ramat Gan
Morton Weinfeld, Montreal
Ruth Wisse, Cambridge, MA