Join the Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Hoover Institution for the launch of Peter Berkowitz's new book, Explaining Israel: The Jewish State, the Middle East, and America, at Shultz Auditorium on Wednesday, October 29, from 4:00 - 5:30 PM, followed by a reception from 5:30 - 6:30 PM.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this collection of 40 columns written for RealClearPolitics between 2014 and 2024, Peter Berkowitz explains Israel by reporting events, examining ideas, and placing both in their larger geopolitical context.

The senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution draws on the great Israeli mosaic of people, opinions, and aspirations to illuminate the domestic politics, diplomatic and national security imperatives, and multivalent spirit of the Middle East’s only rights-protecting democracy.

The carefully curated collection of essays in Explaining Israel demonstrates that to understand the Jewish state, it is necessary to appreciate the nation’s accomplishments and setbacks, the sources of its political cohesiveness and the forces dividing it, and the splendid opportunities and grave threats that it confronts.

The essays commence with Israel in 2014 at the height of its prosperity and self-confidence. They explore intensifying schisms inside the country and gathering dangers on its borders and throughout the region. And they culminate in penetrating analyses of the two crises that struck Israel in 2023. In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sweeping judicial reform proposals set off bitter controversy and months of massive protests. Then on October 7, Iran-backed Hamas jihadists invaded Israel, massacred some 1,200 people, and kidnapped around 250, enmeshing Israel in a seven-front war against Iran and its regional proxies.

Berkowitz’s essays clarify the breathtaking achievements, the heartbreak, and the remarkable resilience of a nation struggling valiantly to be Jewish, free, and democratic in a dangerous region crucial to America’s interests.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also a columnist for RealClearPolitics and serves as director of studies for The Public Interest Fellowship. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, executive secretary of the department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, and senior advisor to the secretary of state. Berkowitz is a member of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters and a 2017 recipient of the Bradley Prize. He is the author of Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation; Israel and the Struggle over the International Laws of War; Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism; and Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist. In addition, Berkowitz is the editor of seven collections of essays on political ideas and institutions and has written hundreds of articles, essays, and reviews on a range of subjects for a variety of publications.

The Israel-Syria-Turkey triangle has long been shaped by a mix of historical grievances, shifting alliances, and pressing security concerns. Today, the region faces overlapping crises—from the Syrian conflict and its humanitarian toll, to Israel’s evolving regional posture, to Turkey’s delicate balancing between strategic interests and domestic imperatives. This seminar will examine the dynamics driving relations among the three states, focusing on how unresolved disputes intersect with new opportunities for dialogue and resolution. Particular attention will be given to the fault-lines, the influence of external powers, energy and water security, and the role of regional normalization efforts. The central question remains: can pragmatic cooperation overcome entrenched mistrust, or will the region remain locked in cycles of confrontation? The seminar will outline potential scenarios and policy pathways to navigate this volatile triangle toward greater stability.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kerim Uras graduated from Ankara University, Political Science Faculty, International Relations Department in 1985 and completed his master's degree from Ankara University on Iraq and its Ethnic Structure in 1987. Starting his career in 1985 in the Cyprus Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, Uras carried out various diplomatic missions abroad, in Germany-Hannover, Cyprus, London, and New York UN, in addition to working at the Cyprus-Greece, Middle East, Europe, and NATO Departments in Capital. He served as Ambassador-designate to Israel while residing in Ankara (due to the Mavi Marmara incident) between 2010 and 2011. Kerim Uras served as Turkish Ambassador to Greece between 2011 and 2016. In Ankara, he served as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Türkiye and as a Member of the Foreign Policy Board from 2016 to 2018. He served as Turkish Ambassador to Canada between 2018 and 2023 and retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kerim Uras has been working as Advisor to the Chairman at Çalık Holding and is Honorary Fellow at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, in NPSIA-MTS as of 2023. He is married with three children. 

Historically, external threats have tended to unite Israelis and impose a measure of national cohesion on its fractured politics. Yet two years after the worst external attack in the country's history, and in the face of multiple external challenges, Israel is internally divided as never before. Indeed, the country can now be said to be in the midst of a constitutional crisis centered on competing interpretations of democracy and Jewish identity. Few scholars are better placed to analyze this crisis than Dr. Masua Sagiv, a leading analyst of Israeli political culture and constitutional order. Join Amichai Magen in conversation with Masua Sagiv.

Dr. Masua Sagiv is Senior Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute and Senior Fellow at the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley School of Law. Masua’s scholarly work focuses on the development of contemporary Judaism in Israel, as a culture, religion, nationality, and as part of Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state. Her research explores the role of law, state actors, and civil society organizations in promoting social change across diverse issues: shared society, religion and gender, religion and state, and Jewish peoplehood. Her recently published book Radical Conservatism (Carmel, 2024) examines the use of law in the Halachic Feminist struggle in Israel.

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The 2023-25 Hamas-Israel war proved to be not only the longest war in Israel's history but, remarkably, given that Hamas is a non-state terrorist organization, a war with profound regional consequences. As multiple regional and global actors seek to influence the "day after" in Gaza for their own strategic interests, questions about the broader meaning and implications of the Gaza-centered conflict assume greater international importance. The war has catalyzed a series of regional and global shifts, exposing the limits of external actors, testing the resilience of long-standing alliances, and reshaping the strategic landscape of the Middle East. In this timely conversation, moderated by Or Rabinowitz, Oded Ailam, former head of the Mossad’s Counterterrorism Division, will offer an in-depth analysis of how the Hamas-Israel war continues to reverberate across the region and beyond.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Oded Ailam is a seasoned security and intelligence expert with a career spanning over two decades in Israel’s elite intelligence agency the Mossad. Among his many high-ranking roles, he was the director of the Mossad’s Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC). After retiring from the Mossad, Ailam transitioned into the private sector, offering security and strategic consulting services. Ailam is frequently invited to lecture at international conferences. His insights are regularly featured on FOX News, CNN, Newsmax, The Washington Post, Newsweek, as well as most of the major European media. Ailam writes regularly in Israel Hayom newspaper and other international outlets and appears regularly on prime-time television in Israel.  Ailam is a senior researcher in the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), and an advising analyst to FDD, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. Ailam is a graduate of Ben-Gurion University, where he earned a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management. He also founded a company specializing in industrial quality control solutions. He published his first short novel, a bestseller in Israel. He is a writer and contributor to scripts in Hollywood, France, and Israel, bringing his expertise in espionage and security to the world of storytelling.

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Professor Karnit Flug served the the Governor of the Bank of Israel from 2013 to 2018, overseeing the stability of the country's financial system and advising the Israeli government on economic policy, taxation, and growth strategies. In a career spanning four decades, Professor Flug has gained an unparalled insider's view into the stucture, strengths, vulnerabilities, and possible trajectories of the Israeli economy. After two years of war and growing international challenges, where is the Israeli economy now and where might it be going? Join Amichai Magen in conversation with Karnit Flug. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Karnit Flug is the William Davidson Senior Fellow for Economic Policy at the Center for Governance and the Economy at the Israel Democracy Institute. After she completed her five-year term as Governor of the Bank of Israel in 2018, she joined the Department of Economics at Hebrew University. Prior to her appointment as Governor, Flug was the Bank of Israel’s Deputy Governor. Previously, Flug was Director of the Research Department and Chief Economist of the Bank of Israel. She published numerous papers on macroeconomic policies, the labor market, balance of payments and social policies. She was an economist at the International Monetary Fund, before returning to Israel to join the Research Department of the Bank of Israel. She also worked at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. as a Senior Research Economist. She served on a number of public and government committees, including the Committee on Increasing Competitiveness in the Economy, the Committee for Social and Economic Change ("the Trajtenberg Committee"), the Defense Budget. Flug received her M.A. (cum laude) in Economics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.

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The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran turned what were formerly close allies into mortal enemies. For decades after the revolution, Iran and Israel fought each other in the shadows - through clandestine operations and proxies - but avoided direct military confrontation. This changed dramatically over the past two years. With Iran on the verge of nuclear breakout, the Islamic Republic launched hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel in April and October of 2024. Having coordinated its response closely with the United States, Israel struck back in June 2025, aiming to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles and set back its nuclear program. What were the actual outcomes of the 12-day Iran-Israel war? Is Iran more motivated than ever to acquire nuclear weapons? And what comes next in the Iran-Israel conflict? Join Or Rabinowitz in conversation with Sima Shine and Raz Zimmt. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Sima Shine is a Senior Researcher and former Director of the research program "Iran and the Shiite Axis" at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). For most of her career, Ms. Shine served in the Israeli Intelligence Community. Her last position was Head of the Research & Evaluation Division of the Mossad (2003-2007).  After her retirement from the Mossad, Shine served as Deputy Head of Strategic Affairs in Israel's National Security Council (2008-2009) and then (2009 -2016) served in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, where she was responsible, inter alia, for the Iranian file and was deputy Director General.

Dr. Raz Zimmt is the Director of the Iran and the Shiite Axis research program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He is also the co-editor of the institute’s journal, Strategic Assessment. He holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from Tel Aviv University. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on Iranian policy towards Nasserism and Arab radicalism between 1954 and 1967. Additionally, he is a research fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel-Aviv University. He is the author of the book “Iran From Within: State and Society in the Islamic Republic," published (in Hebrew) in 2022, and has published extensively on Iranian politics, society, and foreign policy. He has also regularly provided expert commentary to Israeli and international media. Dr. Zimmt is a veteran Iran watcher in the Israeli Defense Forces, where he served for more than two decades.

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French-born Israeli political scientist, author, and foreign policy expert, Emmanuel Navon is the author of several books, including The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel, published in 2020 and which has since been translated into French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin. A comprehensive, historically informed survey of Israel's external relations, The Star and the Scepter provides a unique vantage point from which to explore the past, present, and possible futures of Israel's place in the world. Join Amichai Magen in conversation with Emmanuel Navon.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Emmanuel Navon lectures in International Relations at Tel Aviv University, is a Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) and is a foreign affairs analyst for i24news. The author of four books, he has published in leading IR journals, and his commentary has appeared in outlets such as Le Monde and Newsweek. Previously, Navon served as CEO of ELNET-Israel, a public-policy think tank. Dr. Navon was born in Paris, France, and was educated in a bilingual (French/English) school. He graduated in public administration from Sciences-Po. In 1993 he moved to Israel and earned a Ph.D. in international relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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