Herzliya Conference

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The Herzliya Conference is an annual policy conference held in Herzliya Israel hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya

Influence

In 2009 the Herzliya Conference was described in an article in the neoconservative Middle East Quarterly as 'arguably the most influential think tank event in Israel'. [1] The article quoted Benjamin Balint, a fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute as saying: "the Herzliya Conference does have a large effect: It draws political officials and visitors. They had Mitt Romney this year, everyone from Natan Sharansky to Uzi Ayalon. That does have an effect in terms of shaping strategic studies. People fight over slots at Herzliya." It quoted Nir Boms, vice president of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East as saying: "Herzliya in many ways put themselves on the map. They work an entire year for one conference. It's no coincidence that Sharon eventually gave his speech about disengagement [from Gaza] at the conference." [2]

The Conferences

First Herzliya Conference

In December 2000, the Interdisciplinary Center hosted the First Herzliya Conference.[3]

Uzi Arad said of the conference, which he chaired, that "If you weren't there, it showed you weren't in the major league." An abstract of the conference, entitled The Balance of National Strength and Security in Israel: Policy Directions was published in March 2001 and presented to Israeli President Moshe Katzav. Ha'aretz described the document as "quite astounding":

The core of Israel's political and defense establishment has come out with a document that corresponds, in some of its recommendations and in general tone, with the views of the far right. This is mainly true with respect to the importance attached to the demographic threat to Jewish Israel posed by the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.[4]

Second Herzliya Conference

At the Second Herzliya Conference, Arad spoke over a video link with US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice. Asked whether it was time for a formal US-Israeli strategic alliance, Rice agreed that there was scope for co-operation on counter-proliferation and missile defence. On Iraq, Rice stated: "Iraq is on our radar screen, its on the presidents radar screen, but there are certainly no recommendations to him at this point as to what to do about Iraq."[5]

Third Herzliya Conference

Ahead of Third Herzliya Conference in 2002, Arad released a study arguing that Israel was losing its military edge over the Arab world.[6]Prominent participants included William Kristol, Martin Indyk and Judith Miller.[7]Vermont governor Howard Dean also attended as part of an AIPAC-sponsored visit to Israel.[8]

Fifth Herzliya Conference

Arad was chair and director of the Fifth Herzliya conference in December 2004. Among those who addressed the conference were Ariel Sharon, President Moshe Katsav, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Minister for Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky, Labour Party leader Shimon Peres and Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon. Foreign speakers included Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Union pour le Mouvement Populaire in France; Peter Ricketts, the UK's permanent representative to NATO; Marc Otte, the EU's special representative to the Mideast peace process; and Prof. Philip Zelikow, executive director of the 9/11 Commission.[9]

21st Century Hasbara conference

The Institute for Policy and Strategy held a conference entitled Media as 21st Century Hasbara: Israel, Media and Jihad in a era of Globalization on 17-18 December 2006.[10]According to the Jerusalem Post, Arad told the conference, "We must learn to recognize the players in this theater, including the increasing numbers of NGOs Arab money the diplomatic arena and the 'judicialization' of the diplomatic arena with institutions such as the International Criminal Court in the Hague."[11]

Seventh Herzliya Conference

The Seventh Herzliya Conference opened with John Lennon's song Imagine being played to the audience. According to the Jerusalem Post, 'The audience loved it. Some joined in singing quietly others hummed. If some had forgotten the lyrics most recalled the tune and the message. Thunderous applause was followed by silence.' [12] The song was followed by presentations byWesley Clark the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Avi Dichter Minister of Internal Security, Shabtai Shavit a Former Head of the Mossad, Boaz Ganor the founder of the Institute of Countert-Terrorism and Uriel Reichman Founder and President of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. [13]

The conference criticised by Ha'aretz for it's hawkish stance on Israel's security situation. "At the least, one can say Arad is part of the Israeli political discourse's right wing," correspondent Uzi Benziman said.

The Herzliya Conference - this year at least - is not, therefore, an impartial academic summit. It is an event with a clear ideological agenda.
The subject of this year's conference is the balance of power and national security, and words like "patriotism," "national strength," "renewal" and "strengthening" appear time after time in the titles of the sessions. A significant portion of the speakers (at least on political-security matters) are known right-wingers like Richard Perle, James Woolsey, Dore Gold, Zalman Shoval and researchers from the Shalem Center.[14]

Herzliya Conference 2008 - Israel

The 8th Herzliya Conference 'On the Balance of Israel's National Security', took place in January 2008 with the opening ceremonies being held at the Knesset in Jerusalem. The conference was run by IDC Herzliya, the Lauder School of Government Diplomacy and Strategy and the Institute for Policy and Strategy and was held in cooperation with the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies (which is part of the Shalem Centre). Cooperation and staff were also provided by the Zionist Council of Israel[15].

The event covered strategies and policy recommendations 'across the five principal components of Israel’s national security – defense and foreign policy; economics; education and society; governance; and Jewish Peoplehood policy', with the aims of achieving 'a qualitative leap in all the dimensions of its national policy'. This included the possible use of military force against Iran, as well as discussions on energy security, partiotism, governance, Islam and education, to name a few.

The events participants are too numerous to mention, spanning many pages of the report. Dov Lautman was in attendance along with Gideon Siterman. Lautman and Siterman share a connection through their involvement with the Israel-Britain Business Council (IBBC), where they took part in a meeting prior to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Conference in 2005. Heading the delegation from the IBBC at the Prime Minister’s Conference was Trevor Chinn[16][17]. Trevor Chinn's son David Chinn was present at the Herzliya conference. David Chinn is Partner with McKinsey & Co. Israel[18][19].

Funding

2008

Principal Sponsors

The 2008 Herzliya Conference's principal sponsors were[20]....

Supporters

Cooperating organizations'

The events Media Consultants were Arad Communications

Notes

  1. ↑ Hannah Elka Meyers, 'Does Israel Need Think Tanks?', Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2009, pp. 37-46
  2. ↑ Hannah Elka Meyers, 'Does Israel Need Think Tanks?', Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2009, pp. 37-46
  3. ↑ [The First Conference - 2000], herzliyaconference.org, accessed 9 February 2008.
  4. ↑ A VERY MOVING SCENARIO, Ha'aretz, 23 March 2001.
  5. ↑ Rice sees closer cooperation with Israel, by Joshua Brilliant, United Press International, 17 December 2001.
  6. ↑ Beset Jewish state is losing edge over Arab world, report warns, Washington Times, 2 December 2002.
  7. ↑ The Third Conference - 2002, Herzliyaconference.org, accessed 10 February 2002.
  8. ↑ Vermont governor meets with Israeli prime minister, by Christopher Graff, Associated Press State and Local Newswire, 3 December 2002.
  9. ↑ Four very intense days Herzliya Conference, by Mordechai Ben-Dat, Canadian Jewish News, 6 January 2005.
  10. ↑ Richard Landes, Media as Theater of War, the Blogosphere, and the Global Battle for Civil Society, Executive Summary, Institute for Policy and Strategy, accessed 18 February 2009.
  11. ↑ Haviv Rettig, We must be aggressive in media war', News in Brief, Jerusalem Post, 18 December 2006.
  12. ↑ David E. Kaplan, 'Confronting the terror threat', Jerusalem Post, 28 September 2007
  13. ↑ David E. Kaplan, 'Confronting the terror threat', Jerusalem Post, 28 September 2007
  14. ↑ Uzi Benziman, Herzliya's tidings of Job, Haaretz, 25 January 2007.
  15. ↑ The Annual Herzliya Conference Series: on the Balance of Israel's National Security (2008) Conference Conclusions. Accessed 12th August 2008
  16. ↑ BBC Monitoring Middle East - Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring. 'New head of Israel-Britain Business Council comments ahead of meeting'. 8th November 2005
  17. ↑ World Trade Center Israel Ltd. Newsletter Issue No.77. Spring 2006. Accessed 22nd July 2008
  18. ↑ The Annual Herzliya Conference Series: on the Balance of Israel's National Security (2008) Conference Conclusions. Accessed 12th August 2008
  19. ↑ Krieger, C. (2008) 'Sir Trevor’s big plans to transform London'. The Jewish Chronicle. 4th July 2008
  20. ↑ The Annual Herzliya Conference Series: on the Balance of Israel's National Security (2008) Conference Conclusions. Accessed 12th August 2008
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