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Israeli National Security Conference

Featuring Benny Gantz, Yossi Cohen, Merav Michaeli and more top Israeli and US leaders

Yossi Cohen, Benny Gantz, Merav Michaeli, Tzipi Livni, Robert Wexler and more

Photo for Israeli National Security Conference

An online conference presented by the Y&S Nazarian Center in partnership with Haaretz, Israel's leading newspaper. Hear top Israeli and US political leaders and experts discuss the most pressing strategic challenges facing Israel today - and what to do about them.

Sunday, November 21, 2021
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM (Pacific Time)
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 The past year has seen major political changes in Israel, the United States and Iran, and a major escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence. How have these dramatic developments impacted Israel's national security? And how are Israeli policy makers responding to them?

Join top experts and officials from Israel and the U.S. at the Haaretz–UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies online conference on Israeli national security to learn more about Israel's most pressing strategic challenges: preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, resolving or reducing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and ensuring bipartisan U.S. support for Israel.

View the full conference schedule here.

 

Opening Remarks

Prof. Dov Waxman, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Professor of Israel Studies and Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.

 Aluf Benn, Haaretz Editor-in-Chief

Keynote Opening Address

Defense Minister Benny Gantz, chairman of the Blue and White party

 


Session I: The Shadow War with Iran and the Iranian Nuclear Threat

 

Yossi Cohen, Former Director of the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, head of SoftBank Israel, in conversation with Aluf Benn, Haaretz Editor in Chief 

 

Panel Discussion   

 

Dalia Dassa Kaye, Senior Fellow, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, Former director, RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy

 

 Amos Harel, Senior National Security Analyst, Haaretz

 

 Avner Cohen, Professor of Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

 

 Sima Shine, Senior researcher and head of the Iran program, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv University

 

 Moderator: Amir Tibon, U.S. News editor and assignments editor, Haaretz English Edition

 

 

 

 

Session II: Israel, the Palestinians, and the Region

Tzipi Livni, former Foreign Minister and Justice Minister of Israel, in conversation with Amir Tibon, U.S. News editor and assignments editor, Haaretz English Edition

Panel Discussion

Ameer Fakhoury, Director of the research center at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, Adviser to joint society projects in Israel

 

Gilad Sher, former Israeli peace negotiator and Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Ehud Barak; fellow at Rice University Baker Institute for Public Policy

 

Sara Haetzni-Cohen, Chairwoman of the NGO 'My Israel', activist and writer

 

Micah Goodman, writer and researcher of Jewish thought, author of the best-selling book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 'Catch 67'

 

Moderator: Noa Landau, Editor of the Haaretz21 Project

 

 


Session III: The Future of the US-Israel Relationship

Merav Michaeli, Chairwoman of the Israeli Labor Party and Minister of Transportation, in conversation with Amir Tibon, U.S. News editor and assignments editor, Haaretz English Edition

Panel Discussion 

Martin S. Indyk, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

 

Robert Wexler, Former member of the U.S. Congress, President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace

 

Shira Efron, Senior Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and Special Advisor to RAND

 

Shibley Telhami, The Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland

 

Moderator: Prof. Dov Waxman, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Professor of Israel Studies and Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies

 

 


Closing Interview

Moshe Ya'alon, former Israeli Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the IDF in conversation with Anshel Pfeffer, Senior Analyst, Haaretz 

Closing Keynote Remarks 

US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee 

 

 Thank Yous and Conference Close

Prof. Dov Waxman, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Professor of Israel Studies and Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies

 

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.


Sponsor(s): Haaretz