The Jewish People Policy Institute

Rivka Ravitz studied business administration and computer science and received her MBA in Information Systems. She is currently working on a doctorate in public policy at the University of Haifa. Her research at JPPI addresses the empowerment of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) women in the labor market. Ravitz served as Chief of Staff to the 10th President of the State of Israel, Mr. Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin. She is a member of Israel’s Haredi community and lectures on various topics.

Nadia Beider holds a PhD in Contemporary Jewry from the Hebrew University, where she was a Mandel Scholion doctoral fellow. She is currently a Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe postdoctoral fellow at University College London. She teaches Jewish Education at the Hebrew University and has worked as a demographer at the Claims Conference.

Jude is involved in several research projects at the Institute, while pursuing an LLM at the Van Leer Institute's MOSA program, alongside working as a foreign news analyst at "Maariv" newspaper. He previously combined graduate studies in Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University whilst a legal internship at S. Horowitz & Co, later becoming a lawyer as well. He holds a BA in History, Jewish Studies and Education from Herzog College, as well as an LLB and was part of the "Amirim" honors program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

During his studies, he worked at the Ministry of Justice and a private law firm, and served as a teaching and research assistant at the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and the Israel Democracy Institute.

He also interned at the Yad Hanadiv Foundation and the OECD in Paris, while studying at Sciences Po University.

Dr. Nurit Cohen has joined JPPI as part of the "Jewish Peoplehood" project team. Dr. Cohen is a historian and curator of historical exhibitions. Her book, based on her doctoral thesis, Jewish Refugees in the War of Independence won the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for Military Literature. In the past, she has held key positions in several major media organizations.

Lipaz Rotkovsky works in the consulting and legislation department at the Ministry of Justice, and is a teaching assistant in the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University. Lipaz has a bachelor's degree in law and a master's degree (with honors) in law with a specialization in commercial-civil law. She is the coordinator of  JPPI’s online course "Israeli Identity – Divided We Stand."

Prof. Reuven Y. Hazan is a professor in and former chair of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is the first to hold the Chair in Israeli Democracy and Politics. He has taught about Israeli government and comparative politics for almost thirty years, both at the Hebrew University and at American universities such as Columbia, Emory, Harvard and Yale. His research and publications focus on the neo-institutional cornerstones of comparative politics: political parties and party systems, elections and electoral systems, and legislative studies. He served on the editorial board of leading political science journals (International Political Science Review, Party Politics, Journal of Legislative Studies) and on the executive committee of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR).

He has written and edited several books, special issues of journals, and dozens of book chapters and articles, covering both Israeli government and politics as well as more general theoretical and comparative political science scholarship. Hazan's most recent publications are as lead editor of the Oxford Handbook on Israeli Politics and Society and co-author of Politics and Government in Israel. He has served on political reform commissions appointed in Israel and in other countries, he has advised Israeli political parties and the speaker of the Israeli parliament, worked as a senior research fellow at Israel's top political think tanks, and his analysis of Israeli politics appears often in media outlets across the world (such as the New York Times and CNN).

Col. (Res.) Zilber served in the IDF (Air Force) for 30 years. In his last position he was the head of the Intelligence Operations Department of the Air Force's Intelligence Division. Elder has a bachelor's degree in accounting and economics from Tel Aviv University and a master's degree in national security from Haifa University. After his release, he served as VP of Operations at the startup company VERBIT and was a partner in the startup LOOKING. Eldar heads JPPI's Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Information and Consulting Center.

Dana has a B.A. in Communication and Economics from Tel Aviv University, a B.A. in Psychology from the Open University, and an M.A. in Social and Political Psychology from the University of Jerusalem. Graduated from the army from unit 8200 after learning five units of Arabic.

Dana is a reporter, content creator, media and communication personality, previously hosted a morning show on Channel 2, served the World Cup show as a news presenter, created a television series abroad about breaking stereotypes on women. She worked as a creator, producer and reporter for the digital newspaper "Israel Hayom", and for the past two years has written a socio-political column at “Walla”, dealing the current social issues in the complex Israeli reality. Dana serves as a guest lecturer at the Peres Academic College as part of a crisis management course.

Daniela Regev is a journalist, lecturer, screenwriter and content creator. She was the editor and manager of the Insight and Knowledge Department at Israel’s highly acclaimed public broadcaster’s digital division (Kan IPBC). She created more than 200 videos and web series, such as: “Kan Sakranim”, “The Dictators, “Mysteries”, “Made in Israel”. Prior to that she was a journalist at "ynet" - in both the Hebrew and English versions - in various roles including: Head of news desk, World News editor and reporter, and Science and Tech editor. She was also a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, a strategic advisor, and a podcasts creator. Daniela holds a BA in Business and Journalism from Hebrew University, and an MA in Political Communication from Tel Aviv University.

Dr. David Barak-Gorodetsky is the head of the Elizabeth and Tony Comper Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism, and Director of the Ruderman Program for American-Jewish Studies at the University of Haifa. He recently returned to Israel after two years as a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago's Divinity School. Prior to that, he was a researcher at the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism and served as a rabbi in the Ramat HaNegev Regional Council. His research focuses on the history of religious movements in American Judaism, Israel-Diaspora relations, issues of religion and state, and political polarization. He resides in Kfar Gideon, a mixed Haredi-secular community.

Dr. Ofer Zalzberg is Director of the Middle East Program at the Herbert C. Kelman Institute for Conflict Transformation. Over the last 20 years, he has been a consultant for several international and Israeli organizations, including the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, the International Crisis Group, Oxford Research Group, the Office of the President of Israel, and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He publishes extensively in international and Middle Eastern mainstream media. He co-founded and chaired diverse societal initiatives including Kumu! – For Jewish Renewal of the Public Sphere and the Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation.

His published academic work focuses on conflict arenas characterized by colliding worldviews, notably conflict within and among heterogeneous societies – religious and secular, liberal and non-liberal. His PhD dissertation in Conflict Studies from Trinity College Dublin focused on how conflict resolution addresses value-based non-negotiability.

Yael Ribner is the Director of External Affairs at the Jewish People Policy Institute. She worked in the International Relations Division at Yad Vashem for 15 years, leaving in 2022 as the Deputy Director. She studied Communications and Political Science at Bar Ilan University. She is an active lay leader on several community initiatives that focus on Social Justice, Jewish Identity and Israel.

Jonathan holds a BA in film and television from Tel Aviv University. He worked as a magazine reporter for News 10 for several years, after which he specialized in directing and producing commercial and documentary videos in a variety of styles. His collaboration with JPPI includes video content creation and production of online courses.

Dr. Hagay-Frey is a teaching fellow at Bar-Ilan University and the Open University.  She holds a bachelor's degree (with honors) in law and business administration from Reichman University, a master's degree (with honors) in public law from Tel Aviv University, and earned her PhD at Bar-Ilan University.

She won several awards, including the Raoul Wallenberg Prize for Human Rights. Her book Sex and Gender Crimes in the New International Law: Past, Present, Future was published by Brill | Nijhoff. Dr. Hagay-Frey is part of JPPI’s  “Thin Constitution” team.

Jonathan Seidel is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree at Reichmam University in government with a focus on counterterrorism. Jonathan created a blog, HaSchmooze, aiming to empower university students with a platform to share their thoughts on Judaism.

Amit holds a BA in Economics and Amirim Honors program in the Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Engaged in economic research and large-scale data analysis within the research department of the JGive. A unit 8200 alumnus with a broad background in Middle East affairs. Under the guidance of Prof. Yonatan Givati, responsible for estimating the Israel-Diaspora Index using quantitative methods and relying on economic theory.