Jewish People Policy Institute

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The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) is a think tank established by the Jewish Agency in 2002.

It descibes itself as ‘an independent professional policy planning think tank’ whose mission is to ‘ensure the thriving of the Jewish People and the Jewish civilization’ and it regards Israel as ‘the core’ of global Jewry.

It is incorporated as a private non-profit company based in Jerusalem on the campus of the Hebrew University.

Dennis Ross, who served on Obama's National Security Council, is co-chairman of its board.

Activities

According to its website JPPI’s activities are ‘action-oriented, placing special emphasis on identifying critical options and analyzing their potential impact on the future’.

It develops ‘professional strategic and long-term policy perspectives’ on what it considers to be ‘key factors that may endanger or enhance the future of the Jewish People’. It 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[1]

In August 2012 it listed its areas of interest as:

  • Geopolitics
  • Israel-Diaspora Relations
  • American Jews
  • European Jewry
  • Islam & the Arab world
  • De-Legitimization[2]

2030: Alternative Futures for the Jewish People

In 2010 JPPI produced a report called 2030: Alternative Futures for the Jewish People described as 'an exploratory project' which aimed to serve as a basis for policy planning and 'provide insights into possible futures of the Jewish People and into the variables shaping them, with identification of policy instruments that can be used by Jewish People decision-makers to increase the probability of a thriving future for the Jewish People and decrease the probability of negative futures'.

It was produced through 'a series of brainstorming meetings' which started at the Wye River Conference Center (Maryland, USA) in 2005-2006 and continued in Jerusalem in 2007-2008. These involved up to 20 participants, and included academics, writers, professionals and lay leaders known, according to JPPI for 'dedicating their time to thinking and planning for a better world'. As well as several JPPI fellows and board members, participants included:

Elliott Abrams | Marcos Aguinis | Jacques Attali | Sanford Baklor | Aluf Benn | Yehudit Birk | Gabriella Blum | Charles Burson | Yuval Cherlow | Lester Crown | Ruth Deech | Alan Dershowitz | David Ellenson | Maxyne Finkelstein | Wayne Firestone | Rachel Fish | Abe Foxman | Sami Friedrich | Misha Galperin | Ruth Gavison | Todd Gitlin | Charles Goodman | Stanley Greenberg | Nicole Guedj | David Harris | Roger Hertog | Malcolm Hoenlein | Jeremy Issacharoff | Richard Joel | Arlene Kaufman | Henry Kissinger | Bernardo Kliksberg | Howard Kohr | Charles Krauthammer | Morlie Levin | Daniel Liwerant | Edward Luttwak | David Makovsky | Dan Mariaschin | Sallai Meridor | Leonid Nevzlin | Sheizaf Rafaeli | Jehuda Reinharz | Alisa Rubin Kurshan | Shalom Saar William Safire | Steven Schwager | Dan Shapiro | Natan Sharansky | Rene Samuel Sirat | Hermona Soreq | Lawrence Summers| Harold Tanner | Shmuel Trigano | Moshe Vigdor | Tzvi Hersh Weinreb | Ariel Weiss | David Young

History

JPPI (originally Jewish People Policy Planning Institute - JPPPI) was established in March 2002 by the Jewish Agency. Among its founding board members were then chairman, Amb. Dennis Ross; founding president, Prof. Yehezkel Dror; and director-general, Mr. Avinoam Bar-Yosef. According to its website, following its first presentation of its annual assessment in 2006, the Israel, ‘took the significant decision to reserve a special cabinet meeting each year for future Institute presentations’. In 2007 JPPI moved to its current location on the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University.[3]

Conference on the Future of the Jewish People

In July 2007 JPPI held its first Conference on the Future of the Jewish People in Jerusalem with more than 150 participants from around the world. Keynote addresses were delivered by Amb. Dennis Ross, Prof. Irwin Cotler, Prof Yehezkel Dror, then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (introduced by Mr. Lester Crown), Prof. Jehuda Reinharz, then leader of the opposition Benjamin Netanyahu, and then President-elect Shimon Peres.[4]

Facing Tomorrow

Reportedly on the back of the 2007 conference, President Peres engaged the Institute to plan and design the content for the first Israeli President’s conference, Facing Tomorrow, held in Jerusalem in May 2008 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. More than 5,000 attended from 45 countries. 35 panel discussions were held with more than 225 speakers. Among those who delivered addresses at the eight plenary sessions and two special evening programs were: George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Abby Joseph Cohen, Susan Decker, Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger, Bernard-Henri Levy, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Olmert, Amos Oz, Shimon Peres, Dennis Ross, and Elie Wiesel.[5]

The triangular relationship: Jerusalem, Washington, North American Jewry

In October 2009, the Institute conducted in Glen Cove, New York for a two-day event to discuss what it calls ‘the triangular relationship of Jerusalem, Washington and North American Jewry’. Dan Shapiro of the National Security Council attended, and ‘spoke on behalf of the Obama administration, listened to the concerns of participants and communicated them back in Washington’.[6]

Affiliations

People

Board of Directors

  • Ambassador Dennis Ross, co-chairman of the board - previously sat on Obama's National Security Council and played a leading role in shaping US involvement in the Middle East, involved in peace negotiations in both the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton Administrations. Part of the founding group of JPPI and served as its first chairman. Currently he serves as a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is the author of several books on the Middle East and US foreign policy.[7]
  • Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, co-chairman of the board - served as US Ambassador to the EU, Under Secretary of State, Under Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Secretary of Treasury. He has also written a number of books.[8]
  • Irwin Cotler, board member - Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General from 2003 till 2006. Also of MEMRI, UN Watch and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
  • Leonid Nevzlin, Associate Chairman - former Rector of Moscow's University of the Humanities, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and President of the Russian-Jewish Congress. Established the NADAV Fund 'to support initiatives that strengthen Jewish Peoplehood'.[9]
  • Sami Friedrich - founder of consultancy company Shaldor, has also been on the board of the Jewish Agency and the Israel Democracy Institute[10][11]
  • Dan Halperin - according to a page on the Herzliya Conference (where Halperin has spoken), he served in the Ministry of Finance for over twenty years, as including as Deputy Director-General for International Affairs and as Economic Attach in Washington, D.C. and is also Chair of the Israel Festival Association and on the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the board of Directors of Israeli National Airline El-Al.[12]
  • David Hatchwell Altaras - formerly of Goldman Sachs and now managing director of EXCEM Technologies, he is a member of the Spanish Chapter of the “Weizmann Institute”, the Spanish Board of the Peres Center for Peace and Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Spain. Also a founding member and Vice-President of the Spain-Israel Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of ACOM (Acción para la Concordia en Oriente Medio) a Spain based pro-Israel public diplomacy platform established in 2007.[13]
  • Stephen H. Hoffman, Member and former president of the Board - President of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, the Mandel Foundation, the David and Inez Myers Foundation, and the Maltz Foundation. Served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Jewish Communities. In 2004, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the United States delegation to the Conference on Anti-Semitism, held in Berlin, Germany, by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He is Founder and Co-Chair of the Secure Communities Network[14], a national US project also involving groups like the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
  • Alan Hoffmann - Director-General and CEO of the Jewish Agency and formerly Director General of its Education Department during which time he led 'groundbreaking initiatives' such as MASA Israel Journey and MAKOM – a think-practice tank focused on re-imagining the place of Israel in Jewish life.[15]
  • Rabbi Vernon Kurtz - Former President of MERCAZ Olami, the World Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement. He is an associate member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, has been elected to its executive, and serves as deputy chairman of its Russian Speaking Jewry committee. He is also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem.[16]
  • Morlie Levin - CEO of Birthright Israel NEXT. Prior to this, she was also Senior Analyst at the RAND Corporation and ran a consulting firm 'focusing on strategic planning and marketing for Fortune 100 companies'.[17]
  • Glen Lewy - Senior Managing Director of Hudson Ventures, a technology-focused venture capital fund based in New York, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, former National Chairman and current National Executive Committee member of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).[18]
  • Judit Bokser Liwerant - professor of political science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).[19]
  • Isaac Molho - managing partner in the firm E. S. Shimron, I. Molho, Persky & Co, he handled the major precedent-setting litigation concerning copyright in the Dead Sea Scrolls. During Benjamin Netanyahu's first period as Prime Minister (1996-1999), Adv. Molho, on a voluntary basis, fulfilled various special assignments on behalf of the Prime Minister at his personal request, including acting as the Prime Minister’s personal envoy and as chief negotiator on behalf of the Government of Israel to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority and its former Chairman, Yassir Arafat.[20]
  • Steven B. Nasatir - President of the Jewish United Fund/ Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, he is an Associate Member of the Board of Governors and delegate to the Assembly of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and consultant to the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Also on the Board of the Michael Reese Health Trust, the Covenant Foundation, and a number of Family Foundation Boards of Directors.[21]
  • Ambassador Avi Pazner - Official Spokesman for the Government of Israel, formerly of the Foreign Ministry Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, then Israel’s Ambassador to Italy, non-resident Ambassador to Malta, non-resident Ambassador of Israel to Albania and ambassador to France. Also headed the negotiations with the Vatican, which resulted in the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and the Holy See. In September 1998 he was elected World Chairman of Keren Hayesod-UIA.[22]
  • Jehuda Reinharz - Brandeis Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History, director of the Tauber Institute and former president of Brandeis University. Also president of the Mandel Foundation and the author of a biography of Chaim Weizmann and other books.[23]
  • John Ruskay - Executive Vice President & CEO at UJA-Federation of New York, and states that as an undergraduate he was 'active in both the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama in 1965'. Has also been a member of the Advisory Board and Fellowship Selection Committee for the Wexner Foundation and a Senior Consultant to Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies.[24]
  • Doron Shorrer - according to Business Week, Shorrer is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shorrer International Ltd. Formerly Economic and Financial Advisor, Commissioner of Insurance and Director of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings at Israel's Ministry of Finance Member and served on the Board of Directors of 'Nechasim' of the State of Israel.[25]
  • Gerrald Silverman - Gerrald (Jerry) Silverman is president and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America.[26]
  • Ted Sokolsky - President of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto since 2004. Formerly of B’nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO) and Canadian Friends of Haifa University. Married to Elizabeth Sokolsky, Vice President of Taglit Birthright North America.[27]
  • Alan Solow - former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
  • Michael H. Steinhardt - co-founder (with Charles Bronfman of Birthright Israel, former hedge fund manager, director of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and chair of the Judy & Michael Steinhardt Family Foundation. He also donates to New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis University, Tel Aviv University, and the Israel Museum.[28]
  • Aharon Yadlin - former Israeli politician and father of Amos Yadlin, ex-head of Israeli military intelligence and director of the Institute for National Security Studies

Fellows

  • Avinoam Bar-Yosef, President and Founding Director - previously of Ma'ariv newspaper and Senior Advisor to the Chair of the Jewish Agency Sallai Meridor.[29].
  • Prof. Yehezkel Dror, Founding President - Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a member of the Club of Rome, he served as a senior staff member of the RAND Corporation, Senior Advisor in the Offices of Israeli Prime Ministers and Ministers of Defense; Fellow at the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study and Science Center; and senior professor at the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht.[30]
  • General Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, Former President - previously head of Aman, Israel's military intelligence agency. He is also Chairman of Public Management of the Ben Yakir Youth Village, as well as an active member of the Ghetto Fighters’ House Friends.[31]
  • Prof. Suzanne Last Stone, Academic Counselor - also a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center and Designated Chair, Department of Liberal Studies, at Shalem College[32]
  • Ita Alcalay, Project Manager - previously worked at the Finance Minister's Bureau and the Foreign Ministry.[33]
  • Ambassador Avi Gil, Senior Fellow - formerly Director General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Director-General of the Peres Center for Peace; the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Media Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and was involved in negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords and the peace treaty with Jordan. Also a 'close advisor to President Shimon Peres'[34]
  • Brig. Gen. (Res.) Michael Herzog, Senior Fellow - heads JPPI's confronting de-legitimization project. Former head of the IDF's strategic planning division, held senior positions in the office of Israel's minister of defense and was the chief of staff of Minister Ehud Barak. Son of Chaim Herzog, former president of Israel, he is also the Milton Fine International [Military] Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.[35][36]
  • Dov Maimon, Senior Fellow - working on a 'Grand Strategy of the Jewish People toward Islam' and leads the Institute's activities in Europe.[37]
  • Prof. Steven Popper, Senior Fellow - a Senior Economist at the RAND Corporation and Professor of Science and Technology Policy in the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is also director of RAND's Israel Initiative. He has carried out research for the OECD, the World Bank, several non-US governments and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, including 'evaluations of federal R&D portfolios relevant to the Global War on Terror'.[38]
  • Dr. Shalom Salomon Wald, Senior Fellow - worked at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between 1964 and 2001 and was Head of the OECD/DSTI Biotechnology Unit. Joined JPPI in 2002 and worked on Jewish/Israeli relations with China, among other topics. Currently studying 'India-Israel-Jewish People links'.[39]
  • Jonathan D. Sarna, Senior Fellow - Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.[40]
  • Dr. Shlomo Fischer, Fellow - sociologist at Hebrew University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Also a research fellow at the Van Leer Institute. He has published extensively on radical religious Zionism and the West Bank settlers as well as on the Shas movement.[41]
  • Shmuel Rosner, Fellow - author, columnist and Senior Political Editor for the Jewish Journal, writes weekly for The International Herald Tribune, New York Times and for Israel’s Maariv Daily. Previously a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, and Chief U.S. Correspondent for Haaretz. Has also written for Foreign Policy and Commentary.[42]
  • Antony Korenstein, Fellow - formerly of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).[43]
  • Inbal Hakman, Fellow - Ph.D. student at the Federmann School of Public Policy and Government, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and teaching assistant at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy.[44]
  • Arielle Kandel, Fellow - Joined JPPI in 2012, works on the research project led by Dr. Solomon Wald focused on relations between India, Israel and the Jewish people.[45]
  • Dr. Gedaliah Afterman, Fellow - former policy analyst for the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) in Melbourne, Political Correspondent for the Australian Jewish News and has worked for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.[46]
  • Rami Tal, Publications Editor - former news editor and Washington correspondent at Yediot Acharonot newspaper.[47]
  • Nadia Ellis, Associate Fellow - Works on JPPI's delegitimization of Israel project, especially on university campuses and writing a Ph.D. about the use of the word 'delegitimization' in political discourse at Tel Aviv University.[48]
  • Rabbi Dr. Yehudah Mirsky, Fellow - worked as an aide to Senators Bob Kerrey and Al Gore and served in the Clinton Administration as a Presidential appointee in the US State Department's human rights bureau. Has written on politics, culture and religion for The Economist, New Republic, Washington Post and many other publications. Also a fellow of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.[49]
  • Yogev Karasenty, Fellow - founder and board member of 'several initiatives aiming to promote Israel Diaspora discourse' lecturer on Jewish sociological and demographical trends. Co-writer of the new paradigm for Israel Diaspora relationships (commissioned by the Israeli Government).[50]

Former Fellows

  • Einat Wilf, former senior fellow, left in 2009 on her election to the Knesset as an MK for the Israeli Labor Party.

Publications

Contact

  • Address: Givat Ram Campus, Hebrew University, P.O.Box 39156, Jerusalem 91391
  • Tel: 972-2-5633356
  • Fax: 972-2-5635040
  • Website: http://jppi.org.il
  • Email: info@jppi.org.il

Notes

  1. ↑ About, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  2. ↑ Fields of Interest, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  3. ↑ History, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  4. ↑ History, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  5. ↑ History, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  6. ↑ History, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  7. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ambassador Dennis Ross, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  8. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  9. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Leonid Nevzlin, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  10. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Mr. Sami Friedrich, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  11. ↑ Mr. Sami Friedrich (WZO), Jewish Agency, accessed 12 August 2012
  12. ↑ The 4th Conference - 2003 > Speakers > Halperin, Dan, Herzliya Conference, accessed 12 August 2012
  13. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Mr. David Hatchwell Altaras, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  14. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Mr. Steve Hoffman, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  15. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Alan Hoffmann, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  16. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  17. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ms. Morlie Levin, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  18. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Mr. Glen Lewy, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  19. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Judith Boxer Liwerant, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  20. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Adv. Isaac Molho, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  21. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Dr. Steve Nasatir, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  22. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ambassador Avi Pazner, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  23. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Jehuda Reinharz, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  24. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Dr. John Ruskay, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  25. ↑ Executive Profile: Doron Shorrer, Bloomberg Businessweek, accessed 13 August 2012
  26. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Gerrald (Jerry) Silverman, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  27. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Mr. Ted Sokolsky, JPPI, accessed 13 August 2012
  28. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Michael H. Steinhardt, JPPI, accessed 12 August 2012
  29. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Avinoam Bar-Yosef, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  30. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Yehezkel Dror, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  31. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - General Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  32. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Suzanne Last Stone], JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  33. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ita Alcalay, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  34. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Ambassador Avi Gil, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  35. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Brig. Gen. (Res.) Michael Herzog, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  36. ↑ The Middle East Security Agenda: An Israeli Assessment, WINEP, accessed 10 August 2012
  37. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Dr. Dov Maimon, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  38. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Steven W. Popper, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  39. ↑ Dr. Shalom Salomon Wald, JPPI, 10 August 2012
  40. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  41. ↑ - The Team Behind JPPI - Dr. Shlomo Fischer, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  42. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Shmuel Rosner, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  43. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Antony Korenstein, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  44. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Inbal Hakman, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  45. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Arielle Kandel, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  46. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Dr. Gedaliah Afterman, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  47. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Rami Tal, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  48. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Nadia Ellis, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
  49. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Rabbi Dr. Yehudah Mirsky, JPPI, accessed 1- August 2012
  50. ↑ The Team Behind JPPI - Yogev Karasenty, JPPI, accessed 10 August 2012
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