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
The downside of Blinken’s encouraging confirmation hearing – opinion
Blinken’s remarks on the Israeli-Palestinian issue are cause for concern.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
On Israel-Palestine, Biden Is Not Just Another Version of Obama
Published in Haaretz Many in Israel are expressing concern that the administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be a repeat of the Obama administration. But Biden is not Barack Obama and 2021 is not 2009. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are traditional Democrats, with a fundamental commitment to Israel whose roots are in part emotional in nature (in contrast…
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
Must Israel ‘support Washington to face down Beijing?’ – analysis
A 2019 Rand Corporation Study reviewed Israel-China relations from the perspective of the American national interest.
Opinion Articles
Opinion Articles
No substitute for Oslo and the ‘new Middle East’ – opinion
For a moment, I felt that the voice of the late president Shimon Peres was coming from the mouth of Netanyahu. Published in the Jerusalem Post. The agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Sudan – another important step adjoining the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – fuels the debate over whether a “new Middle East” is…
In the Media
In the Media
Don’t Give Up on the Two-State Solution
By: Dennis Ross and David Makovsky, The American Interest, July 14, 2020 Unilateral Israeli annexation would be a mistake, but Peter Beinart’s one-state solution is an approach that compounds one mistake with another. We wrote our book, Be Strong and of Good Courage, because we feared that the path Israel was on would lead to a one-state outcome. By default, continuing to…
Policy Challenges
Policy Challenges
The Global Positions of China and the US, Before and After the Coronavirus Crisis
A Jewish People Policy Institute webinar about the “Global Positions of China and the US Before and After the Coronavirus Crisis” with JPPI Senior Fellows Brig.
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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