On March 11, 2026, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program (JKISP) at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law hosted constitutional scholar Masua Sagiv for a discussion, part of its Israel Insights Webinar series, titled “Who Stands for Democracy? Understanding Israel’s Constitutional Crisis.” Moderated by Amichai Magen, Director of JKISP, the conversation explored how Israel’s ongoing war, political realignment, and institutional tensions are reshaping debates over the country’s democratic future. The discussion also unfolded in real time under wartime conditions: Sagiv briefly left the session to take shelter during a missile alert before returning to continue the conversation, a moment Magen noted reflected the realities of daily life in Israel.

Sagiv argued that the key political question in Israel’s next elections may be less about individual leaders than about the coalitions that emerge afterward. While Israeli politics has shifted rightward — especially on security issues since the Second Intifada and the October 7 attacks — she emphasized that future governments could vary widely depending on whether parties align with far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners or form broader centrist coalitions. Turning to Israel’s constitutional crisis, Sagiv said that broad agreement exists across political camps that reforms are needed to clarify the balance of power among the judiciary, executive, and legislature. Yet political mistrust has repeatedly derailed compromise proposals. Ultimately, she argued, resolving the crisis will require rebuilding trust across Israel’s ideological divides and establishing clearer constitutional “rules of the game” to stabilize the country’s democratic system.

On February 25, 2026, as part of the Israel Insights webinar series hosted by the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, former Mossad counterterrorism chief Oded Ailam — now a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs — discussed the evolving dynamics of the Israel–Hamas conflict and its broader regional and global implications.

Ailam argued that Hezbollah is currently weakened financially and constrained domestically in Lebanon but may increasingly rely on overseas attacks against Israeli, American, and Jewish targets to demonstrate loyalty to Iran. He also contended that Hamas is becoming less dependent on Iran as support from Turkey and Qatar grows, forming what he described as a new axis of political, financial, and military backing. According to Ailam, Hamas is unlikely to relinquish its weapons or influence in Gaza and will instead attempt to retain control behind the scenes even under a potential technocratic governing structure, casting doubt on the viability of proposed diplomatic frameworks.

The discussion also addressed concerns about global radicalization and dormant terrorist networks in Western countries, with Ailam emphasizing the role of state-backed ideological and financial influence in spreading extremism and calling for stronger Western responses and long-term deradicalization efforts.

“Israel is a miracle’ Judea Pearl said about the founding of the state.

Pearl told a Stanford audience on February 25 at the annual Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture that Israelis and Palestinians must each acknowledge the other’s historical and national attachment to the land. In his view, denying Jewish or Palestinian peoplehood deepens the conflict.

The event was hosted by the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. The talk was moderated by Amichai Magen, Senior Research Scholar and director of the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program.

Pearl, the father of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002, is the UCLA Chancellor’s Professor of Computer Science and Statistics, director of the UCLA Cognitive Systems Laboratory, and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. He is also the recipient of numerous scientific awards, including the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2012 A.M. Turing Award, often described as the "Nobel Prize of computing."

The lecture, launched in 2006 in partnership with Hillel at Stanford, honors Daniel Pearl (class of ’85). His father recalled an Israel in the making.

“Imagine,” Pearl said in a conversation with Magen, “taking a scattered tribe of impoverished middlemen, uneducated, and putting them together and creating a world center of art, science, and entrepreneurship." Magen added, “I like to say that Israel is the most successful refugee camp in human history.”

Along with other topics, he discussed themes of his latest book, Coexistence and Other Fighting Words: Selected Writings of Judea Pearl, a collection of essays written on Jewish identity, Zionism, moral philosophy, and political conflict.

On Wednesday, February 11, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law welcomed Karnit Flug, former Governor of the Bank of Israel. In conversation with Amichai Magen, director of the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program, Flug examined the current condition and long-term prospects of the Israeli economy, arguing that despite its demonstrated resilience, Israel faces a growing set of structural challenges that could undermine future growth.

Flug identified slowing productivity, widening gaps in education and labor force participation, chronic underinvestment in infrastructure, and weakened governance and institutions as “gray rhinos” — highly probable but insufficiently addressed risks. She emphasized that demographic trends, particularly the expanding share of the population receiving inadequate core education, posed a fundamental threat to economic sustainability, while political instability and erosion of institutional credibility discouraged investment. Flug concluded that averting long-term economic stagnation would require renewed policy focus on education, institutional strength, infrastructure development, and inclusive growth.