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 (Crown Forum, 2004); 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
Prof. Yakir Plessner, Chairman
Prof. Arthur Eidelman, Vice Chairman
Prof. Shmuel Sandler, Secretary
Prof. Efraim Torgovnik, Treasurer
Prof. Rela Mintz Geffen, Assoc. Secretary-Treasurer
Zvi R. Marom
Prof. Yakir Plessner – Chairman of the Board of Fellows
Prof. Yakir Plessner, an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel.
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.
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.
Amb. Alan Baker – Director, Institute for Contemporary Affairs
Alan Baker served as the Ambassador of the state of Israel to Canada from 2004-2008, and he was the legal adviser of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, Mr. Baker is a partner in the law firm the law firm of Moshe, Bloomfield, Kobo, Baker & Co, Tel Aviv.
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.
Amb. 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 Mintz 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).
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi
Jonathan Halevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd. and is a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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.
Amb. Zvi Mazel – Director, Arabic Website
Zvi Mazel served as Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt and Sweden. 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. He is an expert on Arab media.
Dr. Jacques Neriah
Jacques Neriah is the former Diplomatic and Political adviser to the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and served as a member of the Israeli negotiating team for the Oslo Accords. He also serves as Chairman of the Israel Humanitarian Foundation Inc.
Professor Shmuel Sandler
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).
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.
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.
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: Ahuva Volk
Institute for Contemporary Affairs Project Coordinator: Adam Shay
Internet Marketing Coordinator: Judy Lash Balint
Graphic Designer and Webmaster: Darren Goldstein
Bookkeeper: Esther Zalis
Hebrew Website Coordinator: Shlomo Blass
Administration: Rachel Elrom, Odelia Zaguri
Fellows
Chairman of Board of Directors:
Yakir Plessner, Rehovot ***
Mordechai Abir, Jerusalem
Yaakov Amidror, Jerusalem
Yehuda Avner, Jerusalem
Alan Baker, Jerusalem
Eytan Bentsur, Jerusalem
Michael Brown, Toronto
Steven M. Cohen, Jerusalem
Irwin Cotler, Montreal
Daniel Diker, Jerusalem
Arthur I. Eidelman, M.D. Jerusalem ***
Freddy Eytan, Jerusalem
Joel Fishman, Jerusalem
Rela Mintz Geffen, Philadelphia ***
Manfred Gerstenfeld, Jerusalem ***
Allen (Avi) Glicksman, Philadelphia
Dore Gold, Jerusalem
Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, Toronto
Aryeh Hecht, Jerusalem
Raphael Israeli, Jerusalem
Chaim Kalchheim, Jerusalem
Irit Kohn, Tel Aviv
Jacob Landau, Jerusalem
Ruth Lapidoth, Jerusalem
Robert Licht, Philadelphia
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Atlanta
Zvi R. Marom, Ramat Hasharon ***
Zvi Mazel, Jerusalem
Reuven Merhav, Jerusalem
Alan Mittleman, Allentown, PA
Daniel Reisner, Tel Aviv
Meir Rosenne, Jerusalem
Mordechai Rotenberg, Jerusalem
Colin Rubenstein, Melbourne
Shmuel Sandler, Jerusalem ***
Jonathan Sarna, Newton, MA
Dan Segre, Italy
Nadav Shragai
Steven Spiegel, Los Angeles
Gerald M. Steinberg, Jerusalem
Joshua Teitelbaum
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, New York
Efraim Torgovnik, Tel Aviv ***
Shmuel Trigano, Paris
Ilan Troen, Beersheva
Mervin F. Verbit, New York
Leslie Wagner
Harold M. Waller, Montreal
Justus Weiner, Jerusalem
Howard Weisband, Jerusalem
Steven Windmueller, Los Angeles
Nathan Yanai, Haifa
*** 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
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 *
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
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