New Members of the Board of Directors and New Researchers at INSS

Tzipi Livni and Dorit Beinisch Become Members of the INSS Board; Meir Ben-Shabbat, Mark Regev, Haggay Etkes, and Esteban Klor Join the Institute as Research Fellows

 

November 16, 2021

About six months ago, Professor Manuel Trachtenberg was appointed director of the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), an expression of the Institute’s intention to broaden the concept of national security for the State of Israel. In addition to the in-depth handling of external threats and the security responses to them, there is no doubt that in today’s world, national security must also include reference to “soft powers,” namely, statecraft, awareness, environment, energy and water, economy, resilience and social cohesion, among others.

New members of the Board of Directors

 

Tzipi Livni has held a variety of key positions in Israel’s governments, serving as deputy prime minister, foreign minister, minister of justice and minister of immigrant absorption, as well as heading a team for peace negotiations with the Palestinians. She has been a member of Israel’s Knesset and leader of the opposition over a number of Knesset terms. As foreign minister during the Second Lebanon War, Livni succeeded in persuading the Security Council to pass Resolution 1701, which established arrangements to help end the war. In 2007 she was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 20 most influential leaders in the world.

Dorit Beinisch served as president of Israel’s Supreme Court from 2006 to 2012, and since then she has been governor of the Open University. During 1989–1995 Beinish acted as the state attorney and was then appointed a judge in the Supreme Court. Beinish has received honorary doctorates from the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute, Ben-Gurion University, and the Hebrew Union College, and she also bears the title of officer in the French Legion of Honor and is an honorary citizen of Jerusalem.

In the spirit of the above, the INSS has recently welcomed four new research fellows, experts of the first rank who have experience in a range of field and who will certainly enrich the abilities of the Institute and its spheres of influence.

 

Meir Ben-Shabbat served as the national security adviser to the Israeli government and was head of the National Security Headquarters from 2017 to 2021. In this role, Ben-Shabbat was involved in formulating the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, and led the official Israeli delegations to these countries. During his term in office, Ben-Shabbat coordinated government actions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the work of the Security Cabinet, and he managed sensitive political contacts with the United States, Russia, India, Europe, and Arab countries. Ben-Shabbat previously held many senior positions in the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), including director of the Cyber Branch, director of the National Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Espionage, Research and Policy Branch, as well as director of the Southern District. Ben-Shabbat led the efforts to deal with Hamas, including managing ISA activity in Operation Cast Lead. In December 2020, he received the US Defense Medal for “Excellent Service to the Public.” The accompanying citation stated that Ben-Shabbat had elevated relations between Israel and the United States to historic heights and led the way to unprecedented partnership, in areas from the struggle against Iran to economic, technological, medical, and cultural collaborations. Ben-Shabbat has a BA in Political Science from Bar-Ilan University and is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Program for Directors and Executives. At the INSS, Ben-Shabbat will serve as a senior visiting fellow.

Mark Regev is an expert with extensive practical experience in foreign relations and international media. In his latest position, Regev served as a senior adviser to the prime minister on these matters. Prior to that, he was the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom (2016–2020). Before leaving for London, from 2007 to 2016, Regev was an adviser to the prime minister and spokesperson for the international media, becoming one of Israel’s best-known voices in the English speaking world. Over the years, he has held a wide variety of diplomatic posts in the Foreign Ministry, including its spokesperson in Jerusalem, adviser in Washington, first secretary in Beijing, and deputy consul in Hong Kong. Regev has a BA in Political Science and History from Melbourne University, an MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and another MA in Business Administration from Boston University. At the INSS, Regev will serve as a senior visiting fellow.

Dr. Haggay Etkes served as a senior researcher in the Research Division of the Bank of Israel from 2009–2021 and was Israel’s representative to the International Currency Fund in Washington during 2017–2020. Etkes has an MA in Economics from the London School of Economics, a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and held a postdoctoral position at Stanford University. His research focuses on the economic ties between Israel and the Middle East and the Palestinian Authority in particular, and he is considered one of Israel’s most prominent experts on the Palestinian economy. At the INSS, Etkes will serve as a senior researcher.

Prof. Esteban Klor is a professor of economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has also served, inter alia, as head of the Economics Department and of the Sapir Forum on Economic Policy. Klor specializes in political economics and public funding, and a significant portion of his research deals with the economic consequences of terror and political violence. In particular, he has conducted extensive research on the consequences of Palestinian terror and the deterrent effect of Israeli responses. Apart from his academic activity, he appears frequently in the international media on these matters. Klor has an MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD from New York University. At the INSS, Klor will serve as a senior researcher.

Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, head of the INSS, issued the following statement:

The Institute for National Security Studies is proud and delighted to expand the ranks of its researchers with the most senior people, who bring with them enormous and varied knowledge, expertise and experience in areas that are critical to the security of the State of Israel. Moreover, the addition of Tzipi Livni and Dorit Beinish to the Institute’s Managing Committee will make a huge contribution to the INSS and is a milestone in strengthening its status of being a central player, both in the public discourse on national security, and among the decision makers.