January 2022
Preface
Inspired by Carl von Clausewitz, the field of studies and research on security and defense is continuing to evolve. Over the years the international arena has seen the development of a lengthy tradition of social-security research in research institutes that are not an organic part of the institutional security organizations. Similarly, in recent years interest in this field has expanded considerably in Israel as well, and not under the auspices of institutional military and security organizations.
It is acknowledged that from the time the State of Israel was established and until the present the defense field has constituted a major foundation of Israel. At the same time, the field of civil-military studies in Israel is very wide and includes researchers from a wide variety of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, political sciences, international relations, psychology, law, economics, history, communications, and others. This variety makes it possible to produce scientific knowledge on issues involving society, military, and defense in Israel.
We are glad to produce this bulletin for your consideration, in which we have reviewed the existing research institutes in Israel that deal with the field of political-security-military strategy. In addition, it includes an extensive survey of academic institutions that offer a program in security studies, and finally a review of journals in the association’s field of interest. The report is based on the websites of research and government organizations, as well as of educational institutions in Israel. This review, arranged alphabetically, includes the name of each institute and its director as well as a summary of its goals and vision. All the details were taken from the websites and are brought verbatim with no additional editing. Those interested can find additional information on each of the organizations reviewed by following the direct link to the organization’s website. We believe that members of the association will be able to find in the report recent information that will help them develop their research.
This publication covers 33 research institutes, 9 educational centers, and 17 journals, all occupied with civil, military, and national security research, assembled and edited by Dr. Itamar Rickover.
We would be glad to receive comments on additional information and important fields of interest that should be added and developed. This can be done here (preferably) and/or by e-mailing us at: itamar.rickover@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Prof. Uzi Ben Shalom
Chairman of the Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel
Dr. Itamar Rickover
CEO of the Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel
What is the Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel?
The Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel was established in 2012. All members of the association are researchers who engage in academic research on civil-military relations, and they belong to different disciplines: communications researchers and political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists, historians and economists, legal experts, educators, and psychologists. The association’s researchers have very diverse political outlooks and strategic approaches; nevertheless, the common element that joins us in one community is the recognition that there is a need for maximally objective research of the activities of security institutions, their interface with other government institutions, and their control by society.
Heading the association’s goals are the promotion, presentation, and analysis of interdisciplinary studies focusing on varied points of view concerning civil-military relations in Israel: the connections between the military and society, the interface between the civil echelons and the military echelons, the relations between the military and other security organs, and the various social and organizational aspects of the military. Moreover, the association also acts to disseminate the accumulated knowledge in Israel and in other countries, among academic entities, the military, security institutions, and the public at large.
Chairman of the association: Prof. Uzi Ben Shalom
Director of the association: Dr. Itamar Rickover
Previous chairmen: Prof. Yoram Peri, Prof. Ze’ev Drory, Dr. Reuven Gal (founder).
The association, together with the Maarachot Press, publishes a biannual journal entitled “The Israeli Journal of Society, Military, and National Security”. The first issue was published in January 2021. It can be accessed here.
The association’s website: https://www.civil-military-studies.org.il/
Members of the association’s management (in alphabetical order): Dr. Avi Bitzur, Prof. Eyal Ben-Ari, Dr. Ofra Ben-Yishai, Prof. Uzi Ben Shalom, Dr. Reuven Gal, Prof. Ze’ev Drory, Prof. Ayelet Harel, Dr. Roni Or Tiarjan, Prof. Stuart Cohen, Prof. Udi Lebel, Dr. Eyal Levin, Prof. Ehud Menipaz, Prof. Hillel Nossek, Dr. Carmit Padan, Prof. Yoram Peri, Dr. Itamar Rickover, Dr. Eitan Shamir, Prof. Gabi Sheffer, Dr. Idit Shafran-Gittleman, Dr. Dov Tamari.
Legal counsel: Adv. Eyal Nun. Accountant: Chen Noy.
To join the association please contact the director, Dr. Itamar Rickover,
at 054-3098055, e-mail: itamar.rickover@gmail.com
Researcher Associations and Research Institutes
Chairman: Prof. Uzi Ben Shalom
About:
The Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel set itself several goals upon its establishment. The primary declared aims of the association are the advancement, presentation, and analysis of interdisciplinary research focusing on the various topics deriving from civil-military relations: the relationship between the military and society, the interface between the civil rank and the military rank, the relations between the military and other security organs, and the various social and organizational aspects of the military.
The association operates to encourage research in fields of interest to civil-military relations from varied points of view, in different disciplines, and from a comparative perspective. The association also acts to spread the research knowledge accumulating in Israel and overseas among elements in academia, the military, security institutions, and the general public.
The members of the association are all researchers occupied in academic research on civil-military relations and they come from different disciplines: communication researchers and political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists, historians and economists, jurists, philosophers, educators, and psychologists. Moreover, the association’s researchers have extremely diverse political outlooks and strategic approaches; however we share a common element that makes us one community – the recognition that there is a need for objective research on how the security organs operate, their interface with the other government organs, and society’s part in controlling them.
Chairman: Brigadier admiral (res.) Prof. Shaul Horev
About:
The Chaikin Chair for Geostrategy is a center for research and political activity at Haifa University. The purposes of the chair are to promote academic research on strategic topics related to Israel and the Middle East, raising awareness of security and social challenges on the national agenda, conveying knowledge to decision makers, students, and the public at large, and helping researchers and outstanding research students in this field through scholarships and prizes. The chair is unique for its research of geographical aspects (such as natural resources and their distribution, population spread, physical infrastructure, and environmental components) in Israel and in neighboring countries that have a crucial impact on Israel’s national security. The chair was founded by Prof. Arnon Sofer.
Chairman: Brigadier general Eran Ortal
About:
The Dado Center is a General Staff HQ whose mission is to develop the IDF’s operational art and systemic thinking in order to assimilate them within the IDF, and to assist various IDF bodies – especially major commands – in implementing them. The Dado Center consists of career officers and civilian researchers from a range of military and security-related disciplines.
In order to fulfill its purpose, the Center operates in five main efforts:
The Dado Center Journal for Operational Art (DCJ) “Bein Haktavim” (Between the Extremes): This journal is a platform for the Center’s publications, as well as a platform for IDF officers’ and academic researchers’ systemic and conceptual writing. DCJ issues are organized around subjects, whose goal is to create a systemic discussion and to expand knowledge in core fields in which the IDF is involved – Frontier Regions (volume 1), Processes of Organizational Change (volume 2), On the Way to Military Transformation (volumes 20-21), and others. DCJ features writing that comes from a critical systems approach, one that reflects the Dado Center’s proactive agenda.
Research Center: The Dado Center focuses on research that examines IDF concepts in different periods, assists strategic learning processes, and examines phenomena relevant to the challenges facing the IDF, including cyber, the nature of the Qualitative Military Edge, the strategic and operational planning process, the tunnel threat and the underground realm, and many other issues.
Executive Director: Prof. Eran Razin
About
Floersheimer Studies is a singular program, publishing studies in the field of society, governance and space in Israel. The program was established in 2007 replacing the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies that was active between 1991 and 2007. Similar to Institute that preceded it, the program was supported by it's founder, Dr. Stephen H. Floersheimer, and is headed by Prof. Eran Razin with the help of an academic committee.
Since 1991, the Floersheimer Institute and Floersheimer Studies published nearly two hundred studies, conducted by over one hundred researchers. The publications address topics related to local governance, aspects of planning and governance in Arab localities, and religion-society-state relations. The Goal of Floersheimer Studies is to add knowledge regarding fundamental processes taking place in the multi-cultural Israeli society, analyze the long-term implications of these processes, and propose alternative strategies of action, with the aim of engaging the attention of decision makers.
The Forum is unique in terms of its goals and the make-up of its participants, who come from a variety of opinions and backgrounds, but who are all involved professionally with the security and political fields. Link to additional information
Chairman: Prof. Hillel Nossek
About:
The Kinneret Center on Peace, Security, and Society was established as a center for research and study of the interrelations between society and military, and security in Israel. The center initiates conferences and study days and sponsors publications that address these topics from a multidisciplinary and comparative perspective. The center promotes study, discussion, research, and publication on economic, social, cultural, political, strategic, and communication aspects and their interrelations with security issues, as well as on the practical consequences of these relations.
The location of the Kinneret College is a foundation and center of attraction for research, study, and discussion on unique geostrategic issues involving the area. This physical point of convergence between Israel, Syria, and Jordan constitutes extensive grounds for research and discussion on political, economic, and security subjects such as the future borders and peace arrangements. Water sources in the area are a target for studies and a basis for future interregional cooperation.
Chairperson: Adv. Hodaya Kain
About:
The Knesset Research and Information Center provides Members of Knesset, Knesset committees and units, with a varied basket of services for the purpose of their current work, by request or at its own initiative. The designation of the center is to provide the Knesset and Knesset members with professional trustworthy, confirmed, balanced, and unbiased information, based on a variety of sources and presented in a convenient and concise manner. This information serves as a platform for knowledge-based discussion and decision making and helps the Knesset in its three functions: legislation, supervision of parliamentary work, and raising issues on the public agenda.
The products of the center include different types of documents: reports, analysis of government activity and monitoring as well as following the implementation of government resolutions, reviewing policy steps reached in Israel and in other countries, comparative international reviews, data documents, cost assessments, documents providing background and points for discussion, and economic and budgetary documents. The documents address the variety of topics dealt with in the Knesset.
In addition to writing documents, the center’s researchers provide constant professional support to the Knesset committees and Members of Knesset, participate in the discussions of the various committees, and present the documents in these committees. As part of the basket of services, the center offers oral advice to Members of Knesset, locating information and data on topics that are on the public agenda at conferences, study days, and roundtables. Since the center was established in 2000 it has written some 7,000 documents, and each year it writes about 300 studies. The large majority are accessible by the public on the center’s website.
Chairman: Brigadier General (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser
About:
The Institute for the Research of the Methodology of Intelligence at the Israeli Intelligence Heritage Center was established in 2016 and deals with the development of operational and methodological conceptions for use by the intelligence community in Israel and in other countries. The institute is intended as a space for discourse on the methodology of the Israeli intelligence community and for connecting it to relevant discourse in the world: in other intelligence communities, in academia, and in the business sector.
The institute utilizes the rich experience of Israel’s active intelligence community and the extensive writing on intelligence and security in academia and in research institutes in Israel and around the world. The institute’s view is that methodology is part of the practice of intelligence and that the combination between practice and theory is essential for developing knowledge in this field. Therefore, the practitioners are capable of developing the theory of intelligence, whose implementation nurtures the continued development of knowledge on intelligence practice. The institute publishes the journal “Intelligence in Theory and in Practice” (“Modi’in Halakha LeMa’aseh”): The six issues published to date addressed integration in the intelligence services, the rapid transformation of intelligence in “Big Data”, intelligence in the battle for consciousness, civil-national intelligence, and multi-disciplinary intelligence. The institute’s publications include in-depth research on methodological questions from a focused perspective and are written by institute researchers and research fellows, members of the intelligence community and academics occupied with intelligence and security.
Executive Director: Prof. Efraim Inbar
About:
JISS counsels Israel’s leaders in defense and diplomatic matters and trains the next generation of Israeli national security specialists. It educates foreign leaders about Israel’s security and foreign policies.
JISS communicates realist positions in Israeli policy debate, emphasizing security in diplomatic agreements. JISS considers the Jewish People’s historic connection to the Land of Israel as a central component of national security. It highlights the importance of united Jerusalem to Israel’s security and destiny.
About:
The IDF Leadership Development School holds concentrated knowledge and expertise on promoting leadership development processes, using tools and conceptions from the behavioral sciences. The school is subject to the authority of the Education and Youth Corps, and professionally to the Department of Behavioral Sciences.
This unit encompasses over forty professionals, mostly civilian employees of the IDF and some freelancers and reservists – psychologists, sociologists, and organizational consultants with graduate degrees and advanced training in personal counseling, therapy, group guidance, and systemic counselling. The school is situated on the grounds of Beit Goldmintz in Netanya, the location of the unit’s administration and its research division, however a considerable part of the unit’s activities (support for commanders, research workshops, and administrative work) is carried out at the bases of the various IDF units.
Executive Director: Mr. Ran Baratz
About
Mida is a news and intellectual daily magazine, which aims to present the public with information and opinions not common in the Israeli media.
To paraphrase a famous quote: “Nothing national is alien to us”. We cover economics, defense, education, culture, academia, law, Zionism, Judaism, history, philosophy, art and more. Our purpose is to provide readers with new information on Israel, expose them to current events and thought from around the world and examine current public policy in a variety of fields as well as offer alternatives.
Our values can best be described as “classical liberal” or “conservative liberal”. We see individual freedom as a uniquely Western political achievement, one earned through personal responsibility and civic involvement. Alongside this, we recognize that elections alone are not enough for a democracy which ensures individual freedom; it must be supported by a coherent social identity and corresponding institutions, the most important of which are nationalism and religion. To us, voluntary and spontaneous civilian institutions are infinitely preferable to a Leviathan-like state awash in resources but harming individual and economic freedoms.
‘Mida’ aims to take a sober view of reality. We are driven by realism: we recognize that even though culture and values have a role in shaping history, it is mostly “fear, honor and interest” which drive the day-to-day agenda. We aim to be as faithful as possible to the facts instead of theories and wishful thinking.
The ‘Mida’ site is an initiative of El Haprat: Herut Ve’ahrayut Ezrahit (To the Individual: Civic Freedom and Responsibility), a non-profit organization.
Executive Director: Mr. Orni Petruschka
About
Molad is an independent, non-partisan Israeli think tank that works to reinvigorate Israeli society by injecting new ideas into all spheres of public discourse. Our vision combines liberal values with a realistic approach to the political and geopolitical challenges of Israeli reality. We inform public debate with responsible content that meets the highest possible standards of research and analysis – the dearth of which has played a crucial role in Israel’s ongoing state of crisis.
Israel is facing weighty challenges that threaten to undermine citizens’ ability to live worthy, fulfilled lives. In the realm of foreign affairs and security, maintaining control over the Palestinian territories is increasingly pushing Israel towards international isolation, expanding its regional isolation, and compromising its future as a democratic state. Civil society is seeing an upsurge in tribal attitudes that are incompatible with the modern way of life. Socioeconomically, growing inequality is dividing a small, well-off elite from rising numbers of citizens who earn too little, pay too much for their basic needs, and can no longer rely on the state’s social safety net.
For Israeli society to meet these challenges successfully, it is imperative to fully comprehend their causes and distinguish real solutions from political spins and ideological delusions. Israeli politics often appear as little more than an arena for skirmishes over special and even personal interests. We believe that our political system must be reorganized according to rival ideas, ideological outlooks and policy proposals. By narrowing the political imagination of Israel's citizens, current political discourse cannot adequately meet the real challenges that Israel faces.
Molad’s rigorous multi-disciplinary research offers fresh alternatives to stagnant political discourse in and about Israel. While we guard our intellectual independence and reject affiliation with any political party, person, or movement, Molad does not present itself as a-political. We believe that the solutions to Israel’s security threats and social and economic ills lie in a democratic system that will embody the interests and true ambitions of its citizens.
Executive Director: Prof. Uzi Rabi
About
Founded in 1959 and incorporated into Tel Aviv University in 1966, the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC) is a non-partisan, interdisciplinary research center which was founded, in part, to bridge the gap between the Israeli intelligence apparatus and academia, and to provide research solutions to contemporary issues that the intelligence services did not have the time or capability to pursue. While it is no longer affiliated with the Directorate of Intelligence, the Moshe Dayan Center continues to play a crucial role in safeguarding Israel's future.
Other organizations may make headlines by hosting high-profile political appearances. The Moshe Dayan Center’s most significant contributions are often behind closed doors. While the Moshe Dayan Center is part of Tel Aviv University, and many of its scholars hold appointments as lecturers and senior faculty therein, the MDC’s activities are not merely academic in nature. Instead, the MDC attacks real-world problems and helps to achieve real-world solutions.
Over the years, the Moshe Dayan Center has cemented a well-earned reputation as “experts that the experts rely upon.” This expertise has been developed out of the founding principle that in order to properly interpret developments in the Middle East and Africa, one must first have an intimate, ‘bottom-up’ understanding of the cultures, peoples, languages, religions, and history of the region.
We pursue this mission along a number of tracks. The MDC regularly publishes both short-form analysis of contemporary developments as well as long-form books and monographs, hosts an eclectic and ambitious program of events and activities, and provides essential support and mentorship to affiliated researchers wishing to publish in leading academic journals and presses. Our internship and visiting scholar program offer students and scholars from around the world an opportunity to study and conduct research at Tel Aviv University, and our research programs and special initiatives are at the forefront of innovation in their fields. Moreover, we prioritize the retention and training of outstanding scholars at all stages of their academic careers and offer assistantships and fellowships to the most competitive candidates.
Executive Director: Prof. Jonathan Fox
About:
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (also known by its acronym, the BESA Center) is an independent, non-partisan think tank conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability.
BESA Center publications and policy recommendations are directed towards senior Israeli decision-makers in military and civilian life, the defense and foreign affairs establishments in Israel and abroad, the diplomatic corps, the press, the academic community, leaders of Jewish communities around the world, and the educated public.
The center sponsors conferences, lectures, and briefings for international and local audiences, bringing together leading experts from academia and public life from both Israel and abroad. The center has developed cooperative relations with leading strategic research institutes throughout the world, from Ankara to Washington and from London to Seoul. The Center conducts specialized research on contract to the Israeli foreign affairs and defense establishment, and for NATO.
Executive Director: Dr. Dore Gold
About
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is a leading independent research institute specializing in public diplomacy and foreign policy. Founded in 1976, the Center has produced hundreds of studies and initiatives by leading experts on a wide range of strategic topics. The Center is headed by Amb. Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the UN and director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Executive Director: Dr. David Koren
About:
The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, which was established in 1978, is a leading and influential research and thought institute that issues from Jerusalem a sustainable social, economic, and spatial doctrine. The Institute is where reality shapers turn to in order to promote and define policy issues in Israel in general and in Jerusalem in particular. The Institute’s activities and research help institutions and bodies to shape and implement innovative and effective policy and bring Jerusalem, with all its various components to the world—and the world to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a source of inspiration for the Institute, a research field, a laboratory, and a space of influence. Developing the city for the benefit of its residents, lovers, and believers, strengthening its global standing and leveraging it—all these head the Institute’s agenda. The Institute’s activities set forth from Jerusalem into broader circles throughout Israel and the world and come back to it, contributing to the city and its residents.
Executive Director: Prof. Yedidia Z. Stern
About
The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) is an independent professional policy planning think tank incorporated as a private non-profit company in Israel. The mission of the Institute is to ensure the thriving of the Jewish People and the Jewish civilization by engaging in professional strategic thinking and planning on issues of primary concern to world Jewry. Located in Jerusalem, the concept of JPPI regarding the Jewish People is global and includes aspects of major Jewish communities with Israel as one of them, at the core.
JPPI’s activities are action-oriented, placing special emphasis on identifying critical options and analyzing their potential impact on the future. To this end, the Institute works towards developing professional strategic and long-term policy perspectives exploring key factors that may endanger or enhance the future of the Jewish People. JPPI provides professionals, decision makers and global leaders with: Surveys and analyses of key situations and dynamics; “Alerts” to emerging opportunities and threats; Assessment of important current events and anticipated developments; Strategic action options and innovative alternatives; Policy option analysis; Agenda setting, policy recommendations and work plan design
JPPI is unique in dealing with the future of the Jewish People as a whole within a methodological framework of study and policy development. Its independence is assured by its company articles, with a board of directors co-chaired by Ambassadors Stuart Eizenstat and Dennis Ross, and composed of persons with significant policy experience. The board of directors also serves as the Institute’s professional guiding council.
Chairman: Prof. Itzhak Berkowitz
About:
The Institute for Policy Analysis is an interdisciplinary research center. Its goal is to advance the study of subjects and issues – theoretical, empirical and applied – associated with the interrelationships between policy formation and implementation, and social, political and economic processes and mechanisms. The theoretically and empirically informed examination of these relationships can produce new knowledge with potential practical benefits for policy makers and for society. For instance, one major facet of policy formulation and implementation to be explored is the institutional interface of models of governance, the state, civil society, and international organizations. These complex configurations of relationships fundamentally affect policy formation and implementation in many different domains, such as education, labor relations, macroeconomic management, mechanisms of intergenerational transfers, welfare, environment protection, military-civil relations, etc. The Institute encourages studies on these topics that focus on the Israeli case and also on other cases, comparative studies, and studies that explore the international and global dimensions of policy formation and implementation.
Executive Director: Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg
About:
The Institute for National Security Studies launches and engages in innovative, relevant, high-quality research that shapes the public discourse of issues on Israel's national security agenda, and provides policy analysis and recommendations to decision makers, public leaders, and the strategic community, both in Israel and abroad. As part of its mission, it is committed to encourage new ways of thinking and expand the traditional contours of establishment analysis.
INSS researchers are guided by the four core values of professionalism, relevance, intellectual independence, and teamwork. Adhering to the highest standards of research and analysis, they are engaged in exploring the most pressing issues of Israel's national security, and contribute through creative and innovative thinking to national security policymaking. Professional integrity and intellectual rigor underlie their work at INSS, as they seek to share ideas and learn from one another while retaining their belief in the value of their own ideas.
Executive Director: Mr. Yoel Golovensky
About
Israel is the realization of the Jewish people’s 2000 year-old dream to return to its land as a free and sovereign nation. The modern day nation-state was founded on traditional Jewish values as well as respect for the rights of the other. Thus, Israel is a vibrant Jewish democracy that promotes the interests of the Jewish nation while respecting the rights of all citizens.
The Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS) promotes and strengthens Israel’s Jewish character and its democratic nature.
Personal freedoms, justice, and human rights are integral to the Jewish value system and they are also central to a democratic form of government. There are however, areas of potential tension between the two sets of values, and resolutions that uphold Israel’s Jewish character while protecting individual rights must be found.
IZS programs in the fields of research for legislature, religions and state, education, and human rights, have advanced these objectives and have brought about significant positive change in Israeli society.
Executive Director: Prof. Ganor, Boaz
About:
Founded in 1996, the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) is one of the leading academic institutes for counter-terrorism in the world, facilitating international cooperation in the global struggle against terrorism. ICT is an independent think tank providing expertise in terrorism, counter-terrorism, homeland security, threat vulnerability, risk assessment, intelligence analysis, national security and defense policy.
ICT also serves as a joint forum for international policymakers and scholars to share information and expertise through research papers, situation reports and academic publications for worldwide distribution. A number of international seminars, workshops and conferences are organized monthly by ICT to discuss and educate on global and regional issues of security, defense, and public policy in order to better facilitate the exchange of perspectives, information and proposals for policy action. Finally, ICT administers the largest public domain research database on the Internet encompassing global terrorist attacks, terrorist organizations and activists in addition to statistical reports.
ICT draws upon a comprehensive and international network of individuals and organizations with unique expertise on terrorism and counter-terrorism research, public policy analysis and education, dispersed all over the world, including the United States, European Union and Israel. An acclaimed management and research staff at ICT spearheads the Institute's efforts to coordinate the struggle against global terrorism and leads a worldwide team of affiliates and academic partners working to encourage cooperation among experts and disseminate innovative ideas for policymakers in the fight against terrorism.
Executive Director: Mr. Yohanan Plesner
About:
The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) is an independent center of research and action dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy. IDI works to bolster the values and institutions of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. A non-partisan think-and-do tank, the institute harnesses rigorous applied research to educate decision makers and help shape policy, legislation and public opinion. The institute partners with government, policy and decision makers, civil service and society, to improve the functioning of the government and its institutions, confront security threats while preserving civil liberties, and foster solidarity within Israeli society. Israel recognized the positive impact of IDI’s research and recommendations by conferring upon the institute its most prestigious award, the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Executive Director: Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Dr. Zvi Shtauber
About:
The Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center (IICC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to commemorating the fallen from all branches of Israel's intelligence community and perpetuating the values and heritage of the community through educational programs.
The Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC) is a nongovernmental (NGO) / non-profit organization dedicated to honoring the memory of the fallen of the Israeli Intelligence community through educational, research, commemoration and heritage-related programs.
The Center´s members are veterans from all branches of Israel´s Intelligence community – the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad), the Israel Security Agency (ISA, formerly Shin Bet or Shabak) and Israel Defense Intelligence (IDI), as well as the bereaved families of fallen warriors. Located in Ramat Hasharon (north of Tel Aviv), the Center has approximately 4,000 members.
Executive Director: Yael Hess
About:
The Mandel Leadership Institute was founded in 1990 in Jerusalem by the Mandel Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Education
The Institute is home to a range of educational and social leadership development programs that aim to contribute to a thriving State of Israel, with its many diverse communities. Participants in the Mandel Leadership Institute's programs come from varied professional backgrounds, including the public sector, social initiatives, and non-profit organizations.
Over the course of their studies at the Institute, fellows hone their educational and social visions, while exploring the great ideas and major themes of Western and Jewish civilization and learn how to implement their visions in practice. Our programs develop their capacity to lead social and educational institutions, and to implement creative solutions for Israel’s greatest educational and social challenges.
Executive Director: Dr. Dan Schueftan
About:
The National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa was established in 2000, to promote research and public discourse on Israel's national security. The NSSC seeks to develop interdisciplinary research in a wide-range of areas, bringing together political, social, military, legal, ethical and economic aspects of national security, hoping to contribute to a better and more comprehensive understanding of these issues among decision makers, as well as senior political and military officials. To set its work in the broader international context, the NSSC strives to develop and maintain a dialogue with national security institutions around the world. For the last quarter century, the National Security Studies Program at the University of Haifa and the NSSC have been educating senior officials and high ranking officers in the field of national security. Recently, the NSSC engaged young scientists in a few research groups to conduct ground breaking work, hoping to forge the new generation of scholars that will lead the Center in the future. Prof. Gabriel Ben Dor established the Center and led it in its formative years. Since 2008 Dr. Dan Schueftan has taken over as the Director of the NSSC.
Executive Director: Mr. Gidi Grinstein
About
The Reut Group is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2004 by Gidi Grinstein as the Reut Institute to become a leadership, strategy, and impact organization. Reut creates and scales innovative models that tackle critical challenges facing the State of Israel, Israeli society and the Jewish world.
Using our unique combination of theory, methodology, and technology, we identify areas in which ‘blind spots’ in the way leaders perceive a given reality generate a "fundamental gap" between these perceptions and fast-changing realities. Reut’s process is based on the work of the Praxis Institute’s reframing methods, tools, and services its founder Dr. Zvi Lanir.
Reut works in Israel and internationally, engaging across levels of leadership and society relevant to our focus issue areas. We seek to mobilize adaptive change in these areas, and to circumvent potential for ‘fundamental surprises’ – which occur when a mindset that has become irrelevant meets disruptive external changes – to pose a threat to Israel and the Jewish people.
Executive Director: Prof. Avi Weiss
About
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel is an independent, non-partisan, socioeconomic research institute based in Jerusalem. The Center conducts high-quality, impartial research on socioeconomic conditions in Israel, and develops innovative, equitable and practical options for macro public policies that advance the well-being of Israelis. The Center strives to influence public policy through direct communications with policy makers and by enriching the public debate that accompanies the decision making process.
The Taub Center envisions an Israeli society and economy that is based on strong, sustainable foundations, in which social policies and public discourse are grounded in evidence-based research and long-term strategic thinking.
Executive Director: Prof. Shai Lavi
About
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute fosters innovative interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences and develops new ways of addressing questions of global concern that have special import for Israeli society and the region. Research and public engagement at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute currently take place in four thematic clusters: Sacredness, Religion, and Secularization; Globalization and Sovereignty; Science, Technology, and Civilization; and Israel in the Middle East. Alongside work in thematic clusters, the Institute fosters a large-scale project promoting gender equality in Israel, and serves as a platform for thinking through and beyond challenges to liberal democracy in our time. In all areas, work at the Institute seeks to break down some of the obstacles to social change by overcoming dichotomies that have become stifling, and offering new terms through which to think about contemporary issues. Our commitment to free and open inquiry is reflected in our maintaining a deeply diverse body of staff and researchers who model civil discourse even as they facilitate and engage in scholarship and relate it to civil society. The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is home to the Polonsky Academy, the leading international post-doctoral program in Israel, as well as to the Van Leer Institute Press, which publishes leading academic journals in Hebrew as well as key works in cutting-edge social and political thought and Middle East culture, mostly in Hebrew for an Israeli audience.
Chairman: Rabbi Itai Asman
About:
In the last decade, radical left-wing trends within the army have increased, which itself is a great danger. This includes introducing educational contents and lecturers with an extreme left-wing agenda, embracing radical outlooks and language promoted by the Ha’aretz newspaper, etc; gender blurring and detracting from the “sanctity of the camp” and operational capacity; harm to Jewish life in the IDF, the military rabbinate and its impact, as well as to religious and ultra-orthodox soldiers, co-ed military service, etc.
These trends must be addressed. For this purpose the “Torat Lehima” team was formed in 2018, comprised of figures with military, Torah-oriented, and public experience.
Chairman: Dr. Efraim Sneh
About:
The S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue at the Netanya Academic College is a unique institution that utilizes innovative approaches to find solutions for regional and global conflicts.
The center is staffed by leading academics beside well-known personages from the local and global political arena, as well as people who served in the past as acclaimed heads of security institutions and first-rate business managers.
The Center for Strategic Dialogue has set itself the following goals: organizing international conferences that include leading academics in addition to policy makers in order to address current issues in our region and around the world; creating mediation groups comprised of heads of state and experts in the relevant areas: security, academics, and economics, in an attempt to help provide solutions to regional and global conflicts; publishing position papers containing conclusions by well-known academics and policy shapers in Israel and elsewhere who will be involved in searching for unique solutions for conflicts.
Educational institutions
Name of academic program: Baccalaureate degree, Terrorism in the Modern Era
Head of program: Dr. Eyal Lewin
Purpose of the program and its goals:
As part of the dual-department program in the Departments of Criminology and of Middle Eastern Studies, a new study track was opened – “Terrorism in the modern era”, dealing with criminal and political terrorism in the context of culture, politics, and economics. Thus, alongside criminology, which analyzes the offense of terrorism and its perpetrators, students acquire knowledge about political aspects of terrorism with social, political, economic, and criminal motives. This, in order to offer students the choice of a worldwide track of content that will serve as a basis for continuing education in the field of criminology and law enforcement, as well as advice to political, social, and economic decision makers.
At the conclusion of their studies, students who complete the requirements of the track and those listed in the university’s regulations will receive an internal certificate attesting to completion of the “Terrorism in the Modern Era” track
Name of academic program: Master’s degree, Military, Security, and Intelligence track in the Program for Military and Security Studies
Head of program: Dr. Eitan Shamir
Purpose of the program and its goals:
The intensifying information revolution, the shift in combat features, and the transformations occurring in the Middle East are obliging us to reexamine how we research, understand, and deal with security, military, and intelligence.
The mix of responses to challenges, by the military arms, security organizations, and entities engaged in policy, diplomacy, and consciousness, is changing. For instance, in the context of warfare in complex environments – such as urban space, the cognitive battle, and political, cyber, economic, and legal warfare – intelligence is the foundation for all operations, more than ever before.
We invite you to stand at the forefront of analysis and research concerning the shift in national security. Bar-Ilan University operates a special Master’s degree program on military, security, and intelligence, where you can expand your knowledge, understanding, and analysis capabilities and develop new ways of thinking.
The theoretical experience in the field of national security is a foundation for those seeking to become integrated in varied occupations in the public and business service. Studies include basic courses in government, international relations, research methods, and state and business intelligence, as well as electives. The program, launched a decade ago, has been significantly upgraded and is now a leading program with experienced and up-to-date lecturers. Graduates of the program work in the security arms, government offices, public services, and private sector. These studies open a door to challenging jobs in the future.
Name of academic program: Baccalaureate degree and Master’s degree, Programs for Security Forces
Head of program: Dr. Meirav Mishali-Ram
Purpose of the program and its goals:
The Programs for Security Forces were established in 1995. These are special programs for a baccalaureate degree within the multidisciplinary program in social sciences. Their main purpose is to allow personnel in the security forces and defense industries to study for a baccalaureate degree during their military service. Also, to provide a response for the special needs of those employed in these systems.
In these programs students receive constant administrative and academic support. The programs are intended for those employed in the security forces and for the general public. From the initial operation of the programs in 1995, some 2,400 graduates completed their studies.
At present, there are 4 study programs for a baccalaureate degree: Nitzavim, Morasha, Human Resources, and Magen, where graduates of each of the tracks are granted a Bachelor’s degree in the Multidisciplinary Social Sciences.
Name of academic program: The National Security and Home Front Defense – BA Program
Chair: Dr. Avi Bitzur
Purpose of the program and its goals:
The National Security and Home Front Defense Program provides an in-depth knowledge of the field of national security in all its complexity: The change in the nature of wars and the defense of the civilian home front during crises and emergencies during wars, emergency and natural disaster preparation during peacetime, addressing all threats to the civilian home front, its readiness and resilience in such situations.
The guiding approach to this specialization views national security as a wide array of areas that influence society's resilience. Homeland security, previously known as civil defense, was once considered a marginal effort in the array of defense of the country and its citizens. Today homeland security encompasses much more and is studied also in the context in natural disasters, cyber attacks and so on, with the goal of training students to become messengers of the central idea: "Preparing Israel for optimal emergency readiness.”
The National Security and Home Front Defense Program takes a broad view of the area of national security and seeks to expand and examine knowledge about the roles of the military, emergency services, home front defense (now the front line), military and civilian authorities, and their impact on our lives during routine and emergency. The emphasis is on preparation during normal times for the possibility of crises. This approach requires a multidisciplinary perspective based on insights from diverse research fields such as strategic studies, political science, security economics, the history of Israel and its wars, community resilience, media, public policy, local government, and operating and organizing emergency services for integrated action. The program addresses the complexity of examining the phenomena and processes both theoretically and practically.
Name of academic program: Master’s degree, National Security Studies Programs – TELEM and the equivalent of the Police Command and Administration track
Academic consultant: Prof. Gabriel Ben-Dor
Purpose of the program and its goals:
The national security studies program is aimed at allowing senior faculty in the IDF and in the various security forces in senior command and management positions, as well as high-ranking officials in Israel’s public and government systems, to study for a Master’s degree. National security studies focus on areas involving the foundations of national security, understanding the political and social context of state security issues, internal and external defense studies: national security, Middle East, intelligence, Israeli society, law enforcement, crime, society, and the military, strategic planning, society and military in Israel, the national security economy, communications and security, political/public corruption, military ethics, delinquency and crime, constitutional and administrative law, and so on.
The program for national security studies is intended for students sent by the organization they are serving and whom they represent. It is not possible to join these programs independently.
Name of academic program: Master’s degree in National Security and Marine Strategy
Head of program: Prof. Shaul Horev
Purpose of the program and its goals:
Beginning from the 2018/19 school year, a unique study program was launched at Haifa University for a Master’s degree in political science with a specialization in national security and maritime security strategy. This program completes the mission undertaken by Haifa University to lead in all maritime studies as part of the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel. By establishing this consortium, the university set itself a goal to deal with the range of scientific, technological, economic, security, and environmental challenges that extensive marine development is posing for Israel. This unique study program completes the last level needed, dealing with aspects related to security on the national level with regard to Israel’s maritime space. The degree allows graduates to occupy jobs involving strategic planning and management in government offices occupied with maritime issues (prime minister, transportation, energy, economics, interior affairs) as well as in companies dealing with maritime issues (Zim, Israel Ports Company, etc.)
Name of academic program: Equivalent of a Master’s degree in political sciences, Security track
Head of program: Major General Itay Virob
Purpose of the program and its goals:
Intended to impart education on the foundations of national security on an academic level with regard to political and social topics concerning national security. The college is intended for high-ranking officials in the Israeli security forces (IDF, General Security Services, the Mossad, the Israel Police, the Prison Service, the Military Industry, RAFAEL, the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, and the Prime Minister’s Office). IDF officers studying at the National Security College are usually slated for senior positions such as: brigade commander, division commander, chief of corps, and other senior positions. Studies at the National Security College are a precondition for the officer’s promotion in the IDF. The National Security College is the highest government institution for the study and research of Israel’s national security issues.
Name of academic program: Master’s degree, Program for Security Studies
Head of program:
Purpose of the program and its goals:
The Program for Security Studies is a flagship program of the School of Political Science, Government, and International Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tel Aviv University. It is rich in content, proud of the quality of its courses and lecturers who are highly ranked in their field, and the most prominent and leading program in its area in Israel, with a global reputation.
The program is intended as a theoretical and practical foundation for understanding topics of security, national security, military, and strategy, familiarization with national security dilemmas in Israel and around the world and with the history of the field and the diverse approaches to the topic, and in particular imparting theoretical and practical research tools to its graduates, who will utilize their abilities to engage, explore, and promote the domains of security and national security.
Name of academic program: Master’s degree, Security and Diplomacy
Head of program: Prof. Ezer Gat
Purpose of the program and its goals:
A unique study program aimed at bridging between military strategy and foreign policy. Its goals: To enrich the students’ knowledge and analytical tools for their practical activities in the security arena, the international arena, government-public service, international organizations, and business settings in the private sector that collaborate with foreign elements (such as multi-national firms).
Journals
Publisher: The Association of Civil-Military Studies in Israel and Ma’arachot
Editor-in-chief: Prof. Uri Bar Yosef
About:
Society, Military, and National Security is an academic journal and as such follows the principles and methods customary in academic journals in Israel and around the world. It enjoys complete academic freedom as customary in academic journals and publishes articles of interest to both academic researchers and practitioners. The articles submitted will undergo double-blinded review and will be selected for publication based on academic quality and relevance to the journal. The degree of relevance will also consider the current IDF discourse, in order to contribute to it and encourage it. We hope that in this way we will be able to establish a journal that will provide access to studies and insights to a wider audience interested in these topics, beyond the fairly small and limited group of academic researchers. Preference will be given to original manuscripts not yet published or accepted for publication elsewhere.
Articles dealing with all topics that fit the title of the journal will be gladly accepted, such as: shifts in military-civil relations; organizational, economic, cultural, and social aspects of the IDF and other security organizations; media, military, and security; the essence of the national security concept in an era of non-military hazards to the nation’s security; war and ethics; politics and the media; how Israel contends with the various threats to its security; the military and gender; the military and religion; relations between the military rank and the political rank; decision making processes regarding defense; the defense industries; cinematic, literary, and artistic representations of the IDF; civil front and home front defense.
Editor: IDF
About: The designation of the army is to utilize planned violence in order to assist in attaining political goals. The military organization is unique and cannot be interpreted based on the codes and principles of other organizations. This is also true of the army’s behavioral sciences profession as one that contains unique variations that are the legacy of the system’s officers. Hence, we assume that this uniqueness accentuates the need to maintain a unique professional discourse. The journal on behavioral sciences is a platform for a professional discourse among the officers of the IDF’s behavioral sciences system in a military organizational context.
The purpose of the journal is to develop new knowledge of the military organization from the unique angle of the behavioral sciences. It aims to investigate the military organization from positivist but also critical aspects, study the organization from within and the interfaces it manages externally, observe the manners of action and basic premises of professionals in the system and how they apply knowledge, tools, and skills, in the complex environment of the military organization.
Editor-in-chief: Major General (res.) Amos Yadlin, Dr. Gabi Siboni
About:
The journal “Cyber, Intelligence, and Security” aims to enrich, inspire, and intensify the public discourse on relevant topics. The articles appearing in this journal, published thrice yearly, are written by the center’s researchers and its guests and the opinions expressed are the authors’ only. “Cyber, Intelligence, and Security” is published as part of the Cyber Security research program run at the Institute of National Security Studies.
About:
The Dado Center Journal is the IDF journal on operational art, published by the Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies. Through a series of studies on the emerging phenomena that influence our environment, and on the tensions and relationships that define the strategic system and operational activity, DCJ seeks to contribute to the development of the IDF’s knowledge on on these issues.
Operational art exists in the tension between tactics and strategy. Just as an electric generator utilizes the potential hidden in the tension between the magnetic poles, operational art positions itself between strategy and tactics in order to take advantage of the potential in the tension between them, and thereby create new knowledge.
The Dado Center Journal deals with the place of the military leader – the thinker and planner – on the operational level, in the space between military action and its political purpose. This is a unique and complex space of interpretation, mediation, and creation in the middle of which sit constant learning and change.
A new issue of the journal comes out every two months, examining a range of subjects at the heart of the IDF’s activity – force design, the General Staff, cyber, and more.
Editor-in-chief: Yossi Kuperwasser and Dudi Siman Tov
About:
A platform for discussions on methodological intelligence for members of the intelligence community (past and present) and proponents of intelligence in Israel and elsewhere.
Editors: Prof. Tamar Herman (Open University) and Prof. Edna Lomsky-Fader (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
About:
A biannual online multi-disciplinary academic (peer-reviewed) journal in the social sciences and the humanities, published by the Open University. “Israeli Readings” will engage in empirical and theoretical topics relevant for Israeli society. The purpose of the journal is to serve as a platform for local research knowledge on social and cultural topics, to arouse a cross-disciplinary local discourse and enrich academic resources in Hebrew.
The journal will include research and theoretical articles on Israeli society from different disciplines: sociology, political science, history, education and psychology, economics, law, anthropology, art, criminology, social work, and others. In addition, the journal will include book reviews (of books published in Hebrew and English) with relevance for Israeli society. Side by side with “classical” articles and reviews, “Israeli Readings” will also include additional digital contents that touch upon research work, such as videotaped guest lectures, podcasts, and works from domains that require visual demonstrations, such as visual anthropology. Other initiatives, such as online themed art exhibitions, are also an option. All the journal’s materials will be strictly peer-reviewed.
The journal will be fully accessible to the general public on the internet, on an open access basis. The articles will appear on the website promptly once they have been in order to retain their relevance and up-to-date status.
Editor-in-chief: Prof. Avi Bareli
About:
“Iyunim” is a multidisciplinary scientific journal published by the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.
The journal holds two series: the semi-annual series and the thematic series. The journal offers its readers studies on the processes that have shaped modern Israelis and their roots in Jewish and non-Jewish society from the late 19th century.
“Iyunim” publishes articles in a variety of disciplines: history, philosophy, sociology, political science, economics, literature, art, music, geography, gender, and others.
Editor-in-chief (Commander): Dr. Amir Gilat
About:
The IDF journal began its way as the professional bulletin of the Haganah and has continued to this day. Thousands of articles and hundreds of books have been published, serving as fertile grounds for the professional enrichment of commanders in the Israel Defense Forces.
The following are some of the processes, ideas, and thoughts formulated in this context: Ma’arachot will preserve its core of activity – publication of the journal and of books on military and national security topics. We shall preserve the grand heritage of our predecessors, the reputation and the professional standards of Ma’arachot. We shall cultivate even further the diversity of the writers, while opening the journal to younger officers – as both readers and writers. We shall strictly maintain the relevance of the articles to the IDF discourse, while providing varied access to the contents – both by interviews and by opinion columns of professional elements and new sections.
The facelift is based on the conception that in the 21st century Ma’arachot should offer its contents in additional media beyond print. We shall not forego the printed press but during this year we will launch a new content website of Ma’arachot, which between printed issues will publish articles and opinion columns that will reach relevant audiences through digital means. At the same time, we have begun to produce podcasts and videos of the contents in Ma’arachot, which will add a multi-dimensional aspect to our content worlds.
In addition, we will expand our area of activity and publish journals on various subjects intended for audiences other than Ma’arachot’s traditional audience: “Ma’arachot Home Front”, “Ma’arachot Law”, “Ma’arachot Technology”, “Ma’arachot Command and Leadership”, “Ma’arachot Civil and Military”, which will be an academic journal, and maybe also “Ma’archot for Youth”, intended for the next generation of IDF commanders. Furthermore, we intend to compile an annual collection of select articles published in Ma’arachot and publish them in English.
Editor-in-chief: Dr. Nir Man
About:
An academic journal established in 1990 on behalf of the Israel Galili Institute for the Study of Defense Power. The journal aims to clarify historical issues in the history of Jewish defense power in modern times: the Haganah organization – the military organ of the evolving State, fighters from the Jewish Settlement who participated in the world wars (Zion Mule Corps, the Jewish Battalions, Jewish Settlement recruits to the British Army, and the Jewish Brigade), illegal immigration to the land of Israel, the strategic settlement enterprise, the campaign of the organized Jewish Settlement against the “White Paper” edicts, the Palmach – the fighting force of the Haganah, the Jewish Resistance Movement and the underground movements (“Hashomer”, Nili, the Eztel, and the Lehi), the battle for independence, the industry and acquisitions, the battles of the War of Independence, chapters in the history of Israel’s wars, IDF operations, and the national security outlook.
The first two volumes published general articles on defense power and analysis of historical documents. From the third volume and on a central topic was selected for each volume, in addition to other historical articles and regular sections (“Call for Proposal”, book reviews, “In the Eye of the Camera”).
Publisher: The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
Editor-in-chief: Dr. Kobi Michael, Dr. Carmit Valensi, Brigadier General (res.) Itai Baron, Dr. Anat Kurtz
About:
The multidisciplinary journal for national security, cyber, and intelligence is a bilingual (Hebrew and English) peer-reviewed journal published by the Institute of National Security Studies – Tel Aviv University. It serves as a platform for multidisciplinary, original, and current research on a wide spectrum of issues related to national security, cyber, and intelligence as a discipline. The journal, established in 1998 and published quarterly, publishes articles on topics related to Israel, the Middle East, the international system, and global trends capable of enriching and challenging the foundation of knowledge on national security. The purpose of “Strategic Assessment” is to contribute to maintaining a productive and intensive discussion on fundamental questions in national security research, in an approach that gives preference to a combination of the theoretical dimension and policy-oriented writing.
The current times call for frequent changes in fundamental conventions related to national security and its perception. Research in this field is developing and endeavoring to adjust to new paradigms and shifts in interrelated levels – technological (including the complexities of the cyber world), cultural, military, intelligence, social, economic, and others. The challenge of understanding reality becomes even more acute with the emergence of competing truths, and precisely for this reason it is essential to conduct research based on facts and data, mediated to form current and innovative statements.
The editorial board encourages researchers to propose articles that have not been published elsewhere and that are capable of offering an original and innovative thesis concerning national security from a wide disciplinary perspective: international relations, political science, history, economics, law, communications, geography and environmental studies, Israel studies, Middle East and Islam, sociology and anthropology, security and strategy studies, technology, cyber, conflict resolution, and other areas.
In the spirit of the times, “Strategic Assessment” is transferring its weight to an online presence and availability. Although the journal will continue to be compiled in a quarterly form, after a process of review and editing the articles approved for publication will be published in an online version on the journal website in a “published first on-line” format, and later on as part of the relevant quarterly issue.
Editor-in-chief: Dr. Anat Stern
About:
Presents research of emerging phenomena in national security contexts, the development of intellectual knowledge for teaching at the National Security College, and academic collaborations with parallel colleges overseas.
Aims to realize the research designation of the National Security College, while utilizing its relative advantage as a meeting place of organizations and in light of the students’ practical experience, in order to develop new and relevant knowledge for national security organs, IDF colleges, and peer research entities in Israel and overseas.
Editor-in-chief: Oded Raanan
About:
The execution of foreign policy currently involves many elements, within and outside the government. These influence, each in its own way, the processes that shape political interests, the diplomatic tools necessary to realize them, and as a result the international image of the state. This activity occurs in a virtual “arena” where foreign policy is shaped, with a guiding hand or in its absence, and from which the name of this magazine derives, “The Arena – Diplomacy and Foreign Relations”.
What should be the role of these actors? What are the desirable mutual relations between them? How can countries deal with the rise of powerful non-state actors and processes such as the growing utilization of social networks and the return of nationalism to many countries around the world? And how do developments in the regional and global arena affect Israel’s foreign policy needs?
These questions and others are at the heart of the discussion in “The Arena”, established in 2018 by the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy at the Reichman University and published by it. “The Arena” serves as a major platform for public and academic discussions on international relations, foreign policy, and innovative diplomacy. It is published in Hebrew as a quarterly combining articles and in-depth reviews, opinion essays, and commentaries on current issues by leading experts, and select contents are also published on the “Arena” website in English.
Dept. of Middle Eastern Studies / Political Science, Ariel University
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Ronen A. Cohen
About:
To provide a unique forum for presenting original interdisciplinary articles from the social sciences, international relations and humanities that are related to the study of the broader Middle East. The journal encourages theoretical and empirical studies on broad issues that include history and contemporary political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.
JIMES is an academic house for local, regional, and international scholars who wish to publish research that exhibits high academic standards and values. JIMES is committed to publishing excellent, professional, and innovative works. By nature, JIMES is an interdisciplinary journal, and the topics it covers range from Middle Eastern Studies, North Africa and Central Asia, to Islam. It explores philosophy, history, politics, and economics, from medieval to modern times.
This journal is essential reading for all academics and decision-makers who concern themselves with understanding the modern Middle East. JIMES strives to provide an essential resource to its readers from a variety of social science disciplines. The criteria for publication in JIMES are relevance to the journal’s aims, scientific innovation and high quality. All submissions are peer-reviewed anonymously by two referees. The journal is published simultaneously online and in print.
Dept. of Middle Easern Studies / Political Science, Ariel University
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Eyal Lewin
About:
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from a national shock and to withstand serious adversity; it is the buffer capacity of a system to absorb different forms of shock. National resilience may be found in the large array of policies and resources that countries employ in order to cope with the challenges before them. This embraces the nation’s readiness to contain a disaster and to maintain its social functions in an adaptive manner. National resilience refers to the measure to which the affected national community can react to a catastrophe in accordance with its severity and magnitude; and the ability of the affected community to recover from a low point of functionality to its normal—or even to an improved— level of functioning. National resilience in essence is the motion of a bounce-forward – the capacity of a nation to turn a crisis into a success.
NRPS provides an academic forum for original interdisciplinary studies in history, political science, sociology, military studies and political psychology regarding national resilience.
NRPS aims to publish original knowledge pertaining to matters of power, politics and influence in the wider context of nations’ abilities to develop the resilience and vitality to recover from collective hardships and bounce back.
Editors: Prof. Amal Jamal, Prof. Michael Kochin
About:
“The Public Sphere”, a journal for politics and society published by the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University. serves as a platform for original articles that analyze political processes in Israel and the world from innovative and multi-disciplinary angles, emphasizing processes of democratization and civil and civilian empowerment. The range of topics addressed by the journal include, among others, government and politics, law and politics, political sociology, geopolitics, political philosophy, human rights, literature and politics, rhetoric, media and politics, state-military relations, and political psychology.
Editor-in-chief: Dr. Eli Michelson
About:
“Yesodot” is the journal of the History Department in the Doctrine and Training Division of the IDF Operations Branch. The History Department was established a few years after the conclusion of the War of Independence with the purpose of documenting, investigating, and disseminating the lessons of that war. Over the years and with the expansion of the IDF and its missions, the department accompanied and is still accompanying these endeavors in times of routine and emergency as needed by the army.
The department’s documentation and research reserve constitutes the historical knowledge base of the IDF in its different stages. In time, a need arose to provide public access to this knowledge – old and new, which previously lacked a unique platform.
Naturally, the department cannot present all its studies; hence, articles that meet the restrictions of information security will be published; this does not detract in any way from the fascinating insights that will be raised in the journal, most of which will be illuminated for the first time, opening to the readers a new and fascinating view of events in the IDF and Israel at historical decision junctions – on land, in the sea, and in the air.
“Yesodot” will present to the public articles dealing with the heart of the army’s actions: operational force and building force in times of routine, during operations, and in times of war. From the beginning and nearly continuously, the IDF is a professional, fighting, and victorious national army. It has no other option. For this reason, and due to its heavy responsibility, its abilities are under daily inspection and it is constantly in action, enabling it to stand at the forefront, with the best soldiers, commanders, and weapons.
Informal Organizations
Chairman: Dr. Amiram Oren
About:
In this website you will find accumulated information on a unique geographical phenomenon – territories utilized by the security forces, army camps, and practice areas covering about half the country and located in all its regions, both in the center and in the periphery, in small and large towns, populated and unpopulated areas.
Link: https://amiramoren.com/
Chairman: Dan Rotem, CEO
About:
Commanders for Israel’s Security is a non-partisan movement of retired senior security figures with the rank of Brigadier General and higher and their equivalents in the General Security Services, Mossad, Israel Police, and the National Security Council, that promotes separation from the Palestinians into two states as part of a regional initiative.
The movement’s activity is founded on the perception whereby security-political arrangements with the Arab world together with maintaining an arrangement with the Palestinians based on the principle of “Two states for two nations” will contribute to Israel’s security and ensure its unique character for generations, and are therefore a supreme national-security goal.
Since its establishment the movement has engaged, in consultation with Israeli experts and their equivalents in the Arab and western world, in forming security-political initiatives and their presentation both to decision makers and to the Israeli public.
Link: https://www.cis.org.il/
Chairman: Brigadier General (res.) Amir Avivi
About:
IDSF is a movement with over two thousand high-ranking officers, commanders, and fighters from all security forces, formed to uphold Israel’s security needs in a way that will facilitate its existence and flourishing for many generations. The IDSF operates in various spheres – in the media, research, and education, with decision makers in Israel and around the world.
The thousands of IDSF members are actively involved in efforts to ensure the security of Israel and the Jewish people from a long-term and multi-generational perspective, with the aim of keeping the flame of Zionism alight.
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