Shifra Shalit

Shifra Shalit is a leading figure on the Israeli cultural scene. She owns the Dvir Gallery, is a member of the board of the Docaviv Film Festival and the Batsheva Dance Company, and is a founder of the biennial Art TLV. From 1995 to 1999, she served as Cultural Consul of the Israeli Embassy in France. Shalit holds a PhD in Cultural Management from the University of Burgundy and a BA and MA in French philosophy and literature from Tel Aviv University and Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. In 2015, she was awarded the Officier des Arts et des Lettres for her contribution to building a strong cultural dialogue between Israel and France.

Tzali Reshef

Betzalel "Tzali" Reshef is a lawyer who served as a Member of Knesset for the Labor Party between August 2002 and February 2003. Reshef holds a Bachelor's degree in law and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Master's degree in law from Harvard University. Reshef was one of the founders of the Peace Now movement and currently serves on its board. He was cohost of a radio show on the Voice of Israel’s Reshet Bet and authored the book “Peace Now: From the Officers' Letter to Peace Now.”

Dr. Elias Mtanes

Dr. Elias Mtanes is a politician and social activist who works for equal rights for the Israeli-Arab public. He served as Deputy Mayor of Haifa from 2004 to 2007, working to foster coexistence in the mixed city. Mtanes is active in promoting education and employment for Israeli Arabs and manages a scholarship fund for Arab students. He currently serves on the Municipal Centers Committee. Mtanes is a veteran left-wing political activist. He began his political activity in 1984, when he was elected to the Ratz party conference. In 1992, Mtanes was elected to the Meretz Executive Committee and served as President of the Meretz Conference. Mtanes works as a dentist, having studied in Romania.

Nehama Karpol Burak

Nehama Karpol Burak is a leading Israeli human resources expert. She began her career in the early 1980s and managed the Mashabey Enosh executive search firm. She held several senior positions at the firm, including Senior Consultant, Partner and General Manager, and was Chair of the Board from 2005-2016. Karpol Burak is active in the Israeli cultural scene and is a member of the board of the Batsheva Dance Company and the Basis School of Arts and Culture. She holds a BA in psychology and art from Haifa University, an MA in psychology from Bar-Ilan University, and an MA in philosophy of science from Tel Aviv University. She is a political activist and a member of the Meretz party.

Ilan Baruch

Ambassador (Ret.) Ilan Baruch is Chair of the Policy Working Group, an advocacy team that focuses on engaging the international community to secure an end to the occupation, based on the two-state paradigm, implementation of UNSC Resolution 2334, and freedom of expression for human rights defenders. Baruch is a member of the Editorial Board of the Palestine-Israel Journal. He was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Oslo peace negotiations and participated in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Egypt. Baruch served as a member of the Israeli diplomatic corps for 36 years, and his final overseas posting was as Ambassador to South Africa.

Prof. Yossi Yonah

Prof. Yossi Yonah was a Member of Knesset for the Zionist Union from 2015 to 2019. He served on several Knesset committees, including economics, reform, and education. Before entering politics, he was a civil society activist and an adviser to the Israeli social protests of 2011. Yonah was a senior research fellow at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem (1998-2012) where he headed various research groups. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught political philosophy and philosophy of education in the Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and headed its Teacher Training Program. Yonah has published extensively on topics pertaining to moral and political philosophy, philosophy of education, and multiculturalism.

Prof. Uriel Procaccia

Prof. Uriel Procaccia teaches corporate law and securities regulation at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. His scientific methodology combines economic analysis of law with insights from the inter-discipline of law and culture. He is the author of numerous books and articles in his fields of expertise. Prof. Procaccia is also active in the promotion and defense of civil liberties in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Ksenia Svetlova

Ksenia Svetlova is an Israeli journalist, associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and policy fellow at Mitivm, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies. She served as a Member of Knesset for the Zionist Union between 2015 and 2019. Svetlova studied Islamic and Middle Eastern history at the Hebrew University, earning a BA and MA, and is a doctoral candidate in Middle Eastern studies. During her term in the Knesset she served on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Aliyah and Absorption Committee, and headed three parliamentary caucuses.

Prof. Amit Schejter

Amit M. Schejter is professor of communication studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev currently serving as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is also a visiting professor at Penn State University where he serves as co-director of the Institute for Information Policy. His research focuses on the relationship between media and justice. He is the author or editor of 7 books and more than 60 journal articles, law reviews and book chapters published in five languages and is founding co-editor of the Journal of Information Policy. Professor Schejter serves on the boards of various civil society organizations focusing on human rights and Arab-Jewish coexistence; has held senior executive positions in the media and telecommunications industry in Israel; served on and chaired a variety of public committees; and counseled media and telecommunication entities in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Prof. Aeyal Gross

Prof. Aeyal Gross is a professor of law at Tel Aviv University. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard University and a human rights diploma from the Academy of European Law at European University Institute in Florence. He is a member of the Board of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel; a member of the Forum for Migrant Workers in Israel; a founder of Gisha, which works to defend freedom of movement for Palestinians; and an adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, B’Tselem, and other human rights NGOs. He serves on the Board of the Concord Institute at the College of Management and is Vice President and cofounder of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association. Gross is a legal commentator for Haaretz.

Prof. Galia Golan

Prof. Galia Golan (Darwin Professor Emerita) was Chair of the Hebrew University Political Science Department and founded its Lafer Center for Women’s Studies. She is a member of the Board of the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Studies and of the National Executive of Meretz. She was a founding leader of Peace Now and of the Jerusalem Link, an Israeli-Palestinian women’s peace venture, and is a leading member of Combatants for Peace. She received the International Studies Association 2019 Distinguished Scholar/Activist Award and 2016 Distinguished Scholar Award in Peace Studies; the 2007 Israel Political Science Association Award for Lifetime Achievement; the 1999 Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award; and the 1995 New Israel Fund Award for Women in Leadership.

Prof. Naomi Chazan

Prof. Naomi Chazan is a professor emerita of political science and African studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Together with Prof. Hanna Herzog, she established the Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS) at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in 2009, where she has been a research fellow since. Naomi Chazan holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served as chair of the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was a visiting professor of Government at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, a research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard, and a research fellow at the Center for International Studies at MIT. Prof. Chazan served as a Member of the Knesset for three terms (1992-2003) on behalf of the Meretz party. She was Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and a member of numerous committees: Foreign Affairs and Defense, Education, Economics, Immigration and Absorption, and the Advancement of the Status of Women. Naomi Chazan was one of the founders of the Israel Women’s Network and is also active in a variety of women’s, human rights, and peace organizations. She served as the President of the New Israel Fund (2009-2012) and is a member of its international board. She has written and edited many books on comparative politics and has published numerous articles on African politics, the Israeli-Arab conflict, politics in Israel, and the status of women.

Dr. Roman Bronfman

Roman Bronfman is a Ukrainian-born Israeli politician. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1986 to 1993, he was a lecturer at the Hebrew University and the University of Haifa. In the 1990s, he was a journalist for the Russian-language newspaper Aleph and for Ma’ariv, and an announcer on the Voice of Israel. In 1993, he became head of the Haifa Municipality Absorption Authority and continues to hold that post. Bronfman served on the Haifa City Council and was Deputy Chair of the Zionist Forum. He was elected to the Knesset in 1996 as a member of Yisrael B’Aliyah and later as a member of the Democratic Choice before joining Meretz in 2003.

Daniel Ben Simon

Daniel Ben Simon is a lecturer and author who has published five books on Israeli society. He was elected to the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party in 2009 and served as a Member of Knesset for four years. Prior to his political career, Ben Simon worked as a journalist for the Israeli Davar and Haaretz dailies. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from the University of Haifa and a Master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Ben Simon is the recipient of the Sokolov Prize for journalism.

Susie Becher

Susie Becher was born in Canada and graduated from McGill University. She was an Editor and later Local Manager of the open source center at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv from 1984 to 2018. Becher was a founding member of the Shahar Movement led by former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin. After the Shahar-Meretz merger, she was elected to and continues to serve on the Meretz General Assembly and its National Executive. She serves on the General Assembly of the Macro Center for Political Economics and is a member of the Policy Working Group, which engages in international advocacy to achieve a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Becher is Managing Editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal, an Israeli-Palestinian publication that addresses critical issues from the perspective of both sides.

Prof. Élie Barnavi

Ambassador (Ret.) Élie Barnavi is an Israeli historian and diplomat who served as the Israeli ambassador to France between 2000 and 2002. Barnavi has authored 15 books on France and Europe in the turmoil of the Religious Wars and on the contemporary history of Israel and of the Jewish people. He has published numerous studies in professional journals in Europe, the United States, and Canada, as well as political articles in the Israeli and European press. Barnavi is a member of the Peace Now movement and the Meretz party. In 2010, he helped create JCall, a nonprofit European organization that advocates for the two-state solution.

Prof. Faisal Azaiza

Prof. Faisal Azaiza is Dean of the Faculty for Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa and former head of its School of Social Work. He was Mayor of his hometown, Daburriya, in northern Israel and later served as Deputy Chair of the Planning and Budget Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel. Azaiza was head of the Directorate for the Association of Community Centers in Israel 2001-2003 and head of the Directorate for the Arab Israeli Bank from 2007-2015. From 2002-2009, he served as head of the JewishArab Center at the University of Haifa. Azaiza received his MSW and PhD from the Baerwald School of Social Work and the School of Public Health at the Hebrew University and holds a post-doctorate from the London School of Economics.

Dr. Revital Amiran

Revital Amiran received her PhD in political science from the Hebrew University and was a post-graduate fellow in the Jewish Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a columnist for the Ma’ariv daily and a fellow at Derech, the Berl Katzenelson Foundation’s think-andengage outreach program. Amiran was Deputy Director of Shaharit, a think tank for new Israeli politics; a member of the Minister of Finance’s committee for the examination of criteria for tax allowances in the third sector; and the author of key chapters for the Ministry of Education’s high school civics textbooks. She serves on a number of public committees.

Dr. Rawia Aburabia

Dr. Rawia Aburabia is a post-doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Law and the Women and Gender Studies program at Tel Aviv University. She completed her MA in international law at the American University in Washington DC, and holds a PhD from Hebrew University. Aburabia has vast experience in international law and human rights, appearing before bodies such as the UN, and serving on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International. She has published numerous articles in professional journals and is the author of the book “Ongoing Legal Exclusion: Palestinian Bedouin Women in Polygamous Marriages in Israel.” Globes newspaper named her one of the 40 most promising young Israelis.