Dr. Dan Diker – President
Dr. Dan Diker, Senior Fellow and longtime Director of the Counter-Political Warfare Project at the Jerusalem Center, is former Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress and Research Fellow of the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at Reichman University (formerly IDC, Herzliya). He has written six books exposing the “apartheid antisemitism” phenomenon in North America, and has authored studies on Iran’s race for regional supremacy and Israel’s need for defensible borders. Publications by Dan Diker
Jerusalem Center Scholars (in alphabetical order)
Khaled Abu Toameh – Senior Fellow, Arab and Palestinian Affairs
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning Israeli Arab journalist, lecturer, and documentary filmmaker specializing in Palestinian affairs. A Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, he has also worked as a senior producer for NBC in the Middle East and has reported on events in the West Bank and Gaza for several media outlets. Publications by Khaled Abu Toameh
Amb. Alan Baker – Director, Institute for Diplomatic Affairs
Amb. Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Diplomatic Affairs at the Jerusalem Center, served as Legal Adviser and Deputy Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel’s Ambassador to Canada. He 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. Publications by Alan Baker
Aviram Bellaishe – VP, Strategy, Security, and Communications
Aviram Bellaishe, a leading expert in regional geopolitics, Middle Eastern affairs, and Arabic language and culture, served for 27 years in Israel’s security apparatus. He gained extensive experience in negotiations, operating mechanisms of influence and perception, and developing strategic and international collaborations. His professional achievements earned him three prestigious excellence awards from the head of the security directorate.
After his discharge, Bellaishe transitioned to commercial, economic, and technological cooperation with Arab countries, leveraging his expertise to expand business and financial partnerships in the region. He served as the Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the law firm Doron, Tikotzky, Kantor, Gutman, Amit, Gross & Co., and as Co-CEO of the firm’s commercial arm. Additionally, he managed the “Israeli Peace Initiative” steering committee for several years and currently serves on the executive committee of Mena2050, an organization dedicated to advancing regional cooperation.
Bellaishe holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in law (with honors), specializing in conflict resolution and mediation. He is a doctoral candidate focusing on consciousness engineering and religious propaganda, with an emphasis on studying influence mechanisms in the Arab world. His extensive experience and unique expertise position him as a key figure in regional dialogue and cooperation efforts.
Lenny Ben David – Research and Diplomacy Fellow
Lenny Ben David is a Research and Diplomacy Fellow at the Jerusalem Center. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Israel’s Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1997-2000). Previously, he served for 25 years at AIPAC, including as the Director of AIPAC’s Israel office. He is a photographic historian of the Middle East, and the author of AIPAC’s groundbreaking Myths and Facts and the recent American Interests in the Holy Land. Publications by Lenny Ben-David
Yoni Ben Menachem – Middle East Intelligence Analyst
Yoni Ben Menachem, a Senior Researcher at the Jerusalem Center, is a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television. He served as Director General and Chief Editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Publications by Yoni Ben Menachem
Amb. Freddy Eytan
Ambassador Freddy Eytan, a former Foreign Ministry senior advisor who served in Israel’s embassies in Paris and Brussels, was Israel’s first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. He was also the spokesman of the Israeli delegation in the peace process with the Palestinians. Since 2007, he heads the Israel-Europe Project at the Jerusalem Center, which focuses on analyzing Israeli relations with the countries of Europe and seeks to develop ties and avenues of bilateral cooperation. He is also the director of Le Cape, the Jerusalem Center website in French. Amb. Eytan has written 25 books about the Israeli-Arab conflict and the policy of France in the Middle East, including La Poudriere (The Powder Keg) and Le double jeu (the Double Game). He has also published biographies of Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, and a book, The 18 Who Built Israel Publications by Freddy Eytan.
Jason Greenblatt – Senior Director, Arab-Israeli Diplomacy
Jason Greenblatt served as Assistant to the U.S. President and Special Representative for International Negotiations (2017-2019). He played a key role in developing the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, that saw Israel normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, and helped formulate President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.
Lt.-Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi – Senior Researcher of the Middle East and Radical Islam
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. 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. Publications by Jonathan D. Halevi
Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch – Director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative
Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch served as Director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria. Since retiring from the IDF, Hirsch worked as the Head of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, as a Senior Military Consultant for NGO Monitor, an advisor to the Ministry of Defense, and head of an advisory committee in the Ministry of Interior. Hirsch was the architect of the Israeli law that strips citizenship from Israeli terrorists who have been convicted for terror offenses, sentenced to a custodial sentence, and receive a payment from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for their acts of terror. Publications by Maurice Hirsch
Pinhas Inbari – Senior Researcher, Arab and Palestinian Affairs
Pinhas Inbari, a Senior Researcher at the Jerusalem Center, is a leading Palestinian and Middle East affairs scholar who serves as a commentator for several foreign media outlets. He served as a Middle East adviser to Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and has authored several books on the Palestinian issue. Publications by Pinhas Inbari
Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf
Irwin J. (Yitzchak) Mansdorf, PhD, senior fellow at JCPA, is a psychologist who has held faculty positions both in Israel and the United States and served as director of the JCPA Israel-Arab Studies program for GAP year students. He currently conducts research in political psychology, including work on the psychology of terror, psychological warfare and public diplomacy. Publications by Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour is an Egyptian-American author and public intellectual. He has published several important academic and popular articles on the Global Left, Arab nationalism, and extremist Islam. He has served as director of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) Program for Emerging Democratic Voices from the Middle East. His autobiography Minority of One: the Unchaining of an Arab Mind tells his story as a political dissident in Egypt.
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah – Special Analyst for the Middle East
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a regular contributor to the Jerusalem Center’s blog on the upheavals in the Arab world, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. Publications by Jacques Neriah
Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein – Senior Fellow and Director, Program on Antisemitism and Israel-Europe Relations
Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein, the Israel Foreign Ministry’s Special Advisor for Combating Antisemitism and a Senior Fellow of the Jerusalem Center, is a former member of the Italian Parliament, where she was Vice President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies. She also served in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and established and chaired the Committee for the Inquiry into Antisemitism. She is the author of over 20 books and hundreds of articles. Publications by Dr. Fiamma Nirenstein
Dalia Ziada – Senior Fellow for Research and Diplomacy
Dalia Ziada is an award-winning Egyptian writer. Previously, Dalia worked in leading positions at major regional and international think tanks and civil society organizations, where she analyzed the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean region, advocated for peace and democracy in the Middle East, and fought tough political and cultural battles against radical Islamist groups in Arab countries. Dalia studied International Security at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (in the United States). She is the author of the best-selling book The Curious Case of the Three-Legged Wolf – Egypt: Military, Islamism, and Liberal Democracy and other internationally acclaimed books on the political complications of the Middle East region.
