A Distinguished Scholar in North American History at McGill University living in Jerusalem, Gil Troy is an award-winning American presidential historian and a leading Zionist activist. The author of nine works on US history, his seven books on Zionism include the classic anthology, The Zionist Ideas. He recently published To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream, and – with the JPPI – The Essential Guide to October 7 and its Aftermath: Facts, Figures, History, now available in French and Hebrew. He has been included in Algemeiner’s J-100, one of the top 100 people "positively influencing Jewish life."
Geopolitics
Will the IDF strike in Doha kickstart a hostage deal?
Did the strikes in Qatar move the country closer toward ending the war and bringing the hostages home, or did it push both goals further away?
New Publications in the Field
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
American Jews Need to Reexamine their Blinding ‘Conzeptzia Too’
hen the war ends and the commissions begin, Israelis will reexamine the “conceptzia,” the blinding assumptions that failed to prevent October 7.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
The logic of Peres
Sooner or later Israel will discover that the future of its integration in the new Middle East remains dependent on a viable Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
Wanted: a new framework for US-EU relations
Deeper cooperation in both the military and economic spheres is essential.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
The Saudi Plan of Shimon Peres
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of our prominent statesmen, the former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes about how he thinks Shimon Peres would have forged a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
The National Intelligence Estimate under a predatory right-wing government
Along with government pressure to stifle criticism and intimidate civil servants, the dilemma facing the drafters of the National Intelligence Estimate intensifies.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
The IDF – a model of morality in combat
A surreal spectacle awaits those who enter the combat center of the Southern Command while fighting is going on in Gaza.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
75 Years Is a Dangerous Age
Israel has entered its greatest crisis after three generations. The USSR, Turkey, India and China arrived at major turning points at this age – what happened to them, and can Israel survive?
Researchers Team

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Amir Eshel
Bio
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Amir Eshel served as Commander of the Israeli Air Force (2012–2017) and as Director General of the Ministry of Defense (2020–2023). During his IDF career, he served as Head of the Planning Directorate, commanded Squadrons 110 and 201 as well as the Tel Nof and Ramon Air Force Bases, and led a series of operational and strategic initiatives.
Eshel holds a BA from Auburn University (Alabama, USA) and an MA in Political Science from the University of Haifa. Upon his retirement from the IDF, he received the Legion of Merit from the U.S. (2017). Defense Department. He is also a recipient of Germany’s Bundeswehr Gold Cross of Honor (2016).
During his tenure as Director General of the Ministry of Defense, many deals were signed to strengthen the IDF's capabilities. In the security and political fields, strategic defense agreements were signed with the U.S. and countries in the Middle East. The project to transfer the Intelligence Directorate to the Negev was approved and launched. Israel's defense exports increased significantly. In addition, the "One Soul" reform was formulated and implemented to improve the treatment of wounded soldiers.
Focus Areas and Research
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Yaakov Katz
Bio
Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.
He is the author of three books - “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War”.
Shadow Strike was recently adapted into a docudrama by Reshet Media and his books have been published in a number of languages including English, Hebrew, Czech, Polish, Japanese and Mandarin.
His next book – tentatively titled “Precision Strike” – is scheduled for publication by St. Martin’s Press in the Spring of 2025.
Yaakov served for close to a decade as the paper's military reporter and defense analyst and was a lecturer at Harvard University where he taught an advanced course in journalism. He also served as Israel correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly.
Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.
In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University.
Focus Areas and Research
Articles by Yaakov Katz
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Prof. Gil Troy
Bio
Focus Areas and Research
Articles by Prof. Gil Troy
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Dr. Shuki Friedman
Director General
Bio
Dr. Shuki Friedman is the Vice President of the Jewish People Policy Institute. He is a member of the Faculty of Law at the Peres Academic Center and formerly served as secretary of the Locker Committee for Examining the Defense Budget. He was also chairman of the government committee on the sanctions against Iran, and headed the international and foreign law department for the legal division of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
Areas of expertise
The relationship of religion and state; processes of religionization; secular-religious-ultra-Orthodox relations; ultra-Orthodox employment; the defense budget; Islamic law; international law; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement.
Focus Areas and Research
Antisemitism, Geopolitics, Democracy, Religion and State, Identity, Thin Constitution, Haredim, Israel-Diaspora Relations
Articles by Dr. Shuki Friedman
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Dr. Dov Maimon
Senior Fellow
Bio
Senior Fellow at JPPI, Dov Maimon leads the "Grand Strategy toward Islam" project, the "Israel-Diaspora New Paradigm" project and the Institute's activities in Europe.
Among his action-oriented work, he is a member of the Advisory Committee for Improving access to Ultra-Orthodox to Higher Education chaired by Professor Manuel Trajtenberg. He is also the author of the Action Plan for bringing the developing mass migration of French Jews to Israel. Commissioned by governmental agencies, the plan was adopted by the Israeli Cabinet on June 22nd 2014.
Born in Paris, he earned a B.Sc. from the Technion (Haifa, Israel), a MBA from Insead (Fontainebleau, France), a M.A in Religious Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Islamic and Medieval Studies from the Sorbonne University. He is a laureate of the prestigious prize "Grand Prix du chancelier des universites 2005" awarded to the best French PhD work in Literature and Human Sciences. He is also a graduat of the Mandel School of Educational Leadership. Formerly an High-Tech industry entrepreneur, Dov is teaching at the School of Business Administration of the Ben Gurion University.
Focus Areas and Research
Articles by Dr. Dov Maimon
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Shmuel Rosner
Senior Fellow
Bio
Shmuel Rosner is a researcher, editor and columnist. He is the editor of the "THE MADAD" project, for politics, society, identity and culture in Israel and serves as a television commentator for Kan News.
Rosner was the editor-in-chief of the non-fiction books in Kinneret-Zamora-Dvir from 2009 to 2021. He was a columnist for the New York Times newspaper from 2012 to 2021. He was the head of the news department at Haaretz (1996 to 2008). He is a sought-after lecturer on Israeli politics, security, and policy; the state of the Jewish people; American history, politics, and policy.
Focus Areas and Research
Articles by Shmuel Rosner
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