The Webinars

To sustain the exploration of critical issues relevant to Israel and the region, AE is mounting a series of web based, video discussions.

  • 2024

    March 14th, 2024

    How Should We Think Now About the Prospect for Two States?

    • Ghaith al-Omari: Former Executive Director of the American Task Force on Palestine. He served as advisor to the negotiating team during the 1999–2001 permanent-status talks and held various other positions within the Palestinian Authority.
    • Dennis Ross: Director of Policy Planning in the State Department (under President H.W. Bush), as special coordinator for the Middle East  (under President Clinton) and as Special Advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia (for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton).

    February 29th, 2024

    The Humanitarian Situation, Post-conflict Governance in Gaza, the Diplomatic Landscape, and Alignments in the Region

    • Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Gen. (ret) Mike Herzog
  • 2022

    December 13th, 2022

    After the Israeli Elections

    • Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin: Fellow at Century International, a progressive New York-based think-tank ; Haaretz columnist, pollster and political strategist for Israeli and international campaigns

    October 21st, 2022

    Nuclear Deterrence in the Ukraine

    • James Fearon: Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, a professor of Political Science at Stanford and Senior Fellow in the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies
    • Charles Kupchan:  Professor of International Affairs in the School of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
    • Scott Sagan: Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation
  • 2021

    November 18th 2021

    Facebook, Free-Speech and the Public Good

    •  Jamal Greene: Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and Co-Chair of the Facebook Oversight Board
    • Matthew Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia Law School

    September 9th 2021

    The Fall of Afghanistan

    • Gen. (ret) Karl Eikenberry: Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (retired).  He is a senior advisor to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defense on its defense and military transformation plan.  He is also a faculty member of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    July 8th 2021

    JCPOA – Round II

    • Ebtesam al-Ketbi: Founder and president of the Emirates Policy Center; professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University and member of the Consultative Commission of the Gulf Cooperation Council
    • Suzanne Maloney (Chair): Vice-president and director of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution
    • Sima Shine: Head of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former head of the Research and Evaluation Division of the Mossad
    • Raz Zimmt: Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and visiting research fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University

    June 10th 2021

    The Future of Jewish – Arab Relations in Israel

    • Tal Becker: Legal Advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry; fellow at the Washington Institute and veteran members of successive Israeli negotiation teams
    • Chimène Keitner: Alfred & Hanna Fromm Professor of International Law, UC Hastings Law School
    • Mohammad Darawshe: Director of the Center for Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva Institute in Israel; faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute and expert on national minorities for the European council in Strasbourg

    June 3rd 2021

    The Palestinian Authority after Abbas – What Comes Next?

    • Amos Harel: Senior Defense Analyst for Ha’aretz
    • Elhanan Miller: Researcher at the Forum for Regional Thinking and former Arab Affairs Correspondent for The Times of Israel.
    • Fufi Sedaka: Brig. Gen (res); former Head of the Civil Administration for the West Bank

    April 8th 2021

    Israel and the International Criminal Court (ICC)

    • Col (res.) Adv. Pnina Sharvit Baruch: Senior researcher and head of the Program on Law and National Security at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS); former head of the International Law Department of the Israel Defense Forces
    • Amichai Cohen: Dean of the Faculty of Law at Ono Academic College and Senior Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute
    • Matthew Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law and Faculty Chair of the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School
  • 2020

    December 17th, 2020

    Broader Regional Implications of the Abraham Accords

    • Ebtesam Al-Ketbi: Member of the board of directors of the Arab Gulf States Institute; founder and president of the Emirates Policy Center and professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University; she is former Secretary General of the Gulf Development Forum
    • Dan Meridor: Served at various times as Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Agency and as president of the Israel Council on Foreign Affairs
    • Jon Pevehouse: Vilas Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Tamara Cofman Wittes: Senior fellow and former Director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department

    December 10th, 2020

    Turkey’s Expanding Role in the Middle-East

    • Charles Kupchan: Professor International Affairs in the school of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the NSC
    • Soli Ozel: Senior lecturer at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and a columnist at Haberturk newspaper

    December 3rd, 2020

    Israel’s Supreme Court vs. the Populists

    • Aluf Benn: Editor in Chief of Ha’aretz
    • Judy Goldstein: Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication and chair of the Department of Political Science at Stanford

    November 19th, 2020

    Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Online

    • Nicholas Rasmussen: Inaugural Executive Director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorismand former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
    • Matt Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia Law School

    November 5th, 2020

    After the Election: What Does the Future Have in Store? Change and Continuity in American Policy in the Middle-East

    • Dan Shapiro: Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University; former US Ambassador to Israel
    • Simma Shine: Head of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University; former Head of the Research and Evaluation Division of the Mossad
    • Keren Yarhi-Milo: Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Director of Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies

    October 29th, 2020

    What Went Right – Horribly Wrong- with Israel’s Handling of the COVID Pandemic?

    • Haviv Gur: Veteran Israeli journalist who serves as the senior analyst at The Times of Israel. He has covered Israeli politics, the country’s foreign and regional policies, and its fraught relationship with the Jewish diaspora since 2005. He has reported from over 20 countries and has served as director of communications for the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel’s largest NGO. He teaches history and politics at Israeli pre-military academies
    • Ben Wittes:Co-Director of the Harvard Law School-Brookings Project on Law and Security and the Editor in Chief of Lawfare

    October 22nd, 2020

    The Isolationist Impulse and the American Experience

    • Peter Feaver: Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy; former Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council
    • Charles Kupchan: Senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of International Relations at Georgetown in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government; former Special Assistant to President for European Affairs

    October 15th, 2020

    Reconstructing the Presidency

    • Bob Bauer: Barack Obama’s White House counsel
    • Jack Goldsmith: Professor at Harvard Law School, served as George W. Bush’s assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel

    September 24th, 2020

    The Abraham Accords

    • Steve Krasner: Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations and former Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State
    • Assaf Orion: Senior Research Fellow at INSS and former head of the Strategic Division in the Planning Directorate of the IDF General Staff
    • Tamara Wittes: Senior Fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

    August 24th, 2020

    Free Speech and the Internet

    • Stewart Baker: Former Under Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security; former General Counsel of the National Security Agency
    • Cass Matthews: Senior Legal Counsel at Google and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law
    • Benjamin Wittes: Editor in Chief of Lawfare; Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is Research Director in Public law, and Co-Director of the Harvard Law School-Brookings Project on Law and Security

    August 11th, 2020

    International Economic Cooperation and the Covid Pandemic

    • Daniel W. Drezner: Professor of international politics, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a contributing editor at The Washington Post. Drezner has written five books, edited two others, and has published articles in numerous scholarly journals as well as in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Foreign Affairs, and has been a contributing editor for Foreign Policy and The National Interest
    • Judith L. Goldstein: Chair for the Department of Political Science, the Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication and the Kaye University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. Her research focuses on international political economy, with a focus on trade politics. She has written and/or edited six books and her articles have appeared in numerous journals
    • Jon Pevehouse: Vilas Distinguished Professor of Political Science, International Relations and Political Methodology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author, with Joshua Goldstein of International Relations, the leading textbook on international politics; co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford handbook of International Political Economy, co-editor of the Cambridge Elements Series in International Relations, co-editor of the Chicago Series on International and Domestic Institutions, and former editor of the leading IR journal, International Organization

    August 3rd, 2020

    National Cybersecurity Strategy: Views from Israel and the United States

    • Chris Inglis: Former Deputy Director of the NSA, a Professor of Cyber Security Studies at the US Naval Academy and a Commissioner on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission
    • Eviatar Matania: Head of the MA Program in Security Studies and the MA Program in Cyber Politics and Government at Tel Aviv University; Adjunct Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford and Founding Head and former Director General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate
    • Matthew Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law and chair of the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. He is also Adjunct Senior Fellow for Law and Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He previously served in senior positions at the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense and National Security Council

    July 27th, 2020

    Contemporary Crises in Historical Context

    • Bruce Cain: Professor of Political Science and Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University
    • Allyson Hobbs: Associate Professor of US History, Director of African and African American Studies, and Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University
    • David Kennedy: Donald H. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus and former Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University
    • Margaret O’Mara: Howard and Frances Keller Professor of History at the University of Washington

    July 21st, 2020

    Annexation: The Palestinian Perspective

    • Peter Gourevitch: Founding Dean and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy
    • Ibrahim Salama: has served for years in various capacities in the Palestinian Authority and its security forces. He currently serves as the Director General of the Strategic Planning Unit in the PA’s Interior Ministry
    • Khalil Shikaki: Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, Palestine and a senior fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University

    July 14th, 2020

    Annexation: Part 2

    • David Brodet: Former Budget Director for the State of Israel; former Director General of the Finance Ministry, and Chairman of Bank Leumi. He was responsible for negotiating with the Palestinians in the talks leading to the 1994 Paris Protocol on Economic Relations
    • Brig. Gen. (res.) Udi Dekel:  Managing Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS); former head of the negotiating team with the Palestinians in the Annapolis process (2008-2009); former Head of the Strategic Planning Division in the General Staff of the Israel Defense Force
    • Dalia Dassa Kaye: Director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation

    July 8th, 2020

    A Collaboration with Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program: May the President Withdraw from Treaties, and May Congress Prevent Him?

    • Professor Rebecca Ingber: Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center for Law and Security at NYU Law School and Associate Professor at the Boston University Law School

    July 7th, 2020

    Annexation of the West Bank: International and Geo-Strategic Consequences

    • Col. (Ret.) Adv. Pnina Sharvit Baruch: Senior research fellow and head of the program on law and national security at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies (INSS); formerly head of the International Law Department in the Israel Defense Forces
    • Dan Rothem: Senior research consultant for the S. Danliel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and CEO of Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS), a non-partisan movement working to promote a two-state solution as part of a regional framework
    • Keren Yarhi-Milo: Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs and Associate Director of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University
    • Ofer Zalzberg: Senior Middle East Analyst in the International Crisis Group; Senior Adviser at the Herbert Kelman Institute for Conflict Transformation

    July 6th, 2020

    A Collaboration with Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program: Introduction to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

    • Professor Bobby Chesney: James A. Baker III, Chair in World of Law and World Affairs, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas School of Law

    June 25th, 2020

    A Collaboration with Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program: Introduction to Cybersecurity Law

    • Robert M. Chesney: Robert M. Chesney holds the James Baker Chair and also serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas School of Law. In addition, he is the Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, a University-wide research unit bridging across disciplines to improve understanding of international security issues

    June 16th, 2020

    Soft Power and Global Leadership in an Age of Pandemic:  the Case of China

    • William Kirby: Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration, T.M Chang Professor of China Studies, and Chairman of the Harvard China Fund
    • Sun Zhe: Founding director of the Center for U.S. – China Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is currently a visiting senior research scholar and co-Director of the China Initiative at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs

    June 12th, 2020

    A Collaboration with Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program: The Security Council and the Use of Force

    The UN Charter reflected a basic bargain: states would accept legal limitations on their individual rights to use force but a Security Council would collectively address urgent threats to peace and security. How has this bargain played out in practice? To the extent that the Security Council has failed to deliver, how has international law adapted—or failed to adapt?

    • Todd F. Buchwald:  Former Ambassador and Special Coordinator for Global Criminal Justice at the U.S. Department of State

    June 11th  2020

    The Covid Crisis and the Future of Global Institutions

    • Dr. Suerie Moon: Co-director, Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. She also directs the Knowledge Network on Innovation and Access to Medicines, a project that aims to maximize the contributions of research and analysis to strengthening the pharmaceutical innovation system, a topic she has researched for over twenty years. Her work is broadly concerned with the intersection of global governance and public health
    • Mara PillingerPhD:  Associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, working on Global Health Policy & Politics Initiative. Her research focuses on the political, organizational, and power dynamics at work behind the scenes of the World Health Organization and major multisectoral global health partnerships
    • Jon Pevehouse: Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work has focused broadly on issues of international organizations and international political economy

    June 2nd  2020

    Strategic Implications of the Collapse of Oil Prices

    • Amy Jaffe: David Rubinstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations
    • Steve Krasner: Graham H. Stuart Professor of International Relations, Senior Fellow at FSI, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute; former Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department
    • Assaf Orion: Senior Research Fellow at INSS and former head of the Strategic Division in the Planning Directorate of the IDF General Staff

    May 31st 2020

    Public Health and Civil Liberties

    • Stewart Baker: Former General Counsel of the National Security Agency and former Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security
    • Yuval Shani: Lauterpacht Chair in Public International Law at Hebrew University; Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee
    • Matthew Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law and Faculty Chair of the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School

    May 13th  2020

    The Changing Arc of US Strategy Toward the Middle East and Asia

    • Karl Eikenberry: Former U.S. ambassador and Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, retired
    • Charles Kupchan: Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Professor of International Affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University
    • Brett McGurk: Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Center for Security and Cooperation at Stanford University

    May 6th 2020

    Whither Europe?

    • Charles Kupchan: Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Professor of International Affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University
    •  Andrew Moravscik: Professor of Politics and Director of the European Union Program at Princeton University
    •  Nathalie Tocci: Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, and has served as Special Advisor to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

    April 20th 2020

    The Legal and Diplomatic Implications of Israel’s Annexation of the West Bank

    • Tal Becker: Legal Advisor at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • Matthew Waxman: Liviu Librescu Professor of Law and Faculty Chair of the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School

    April 6th 2020

    The Political Situation in Israel and the Election

    • Aluf Benn: Editor-in-Chief of Haaretz Newspaper
    • Ben Wittes: Editor-in-Chief of Lawfare and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution
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