Israel PR Public Relations Directory

Israel News Agency / Google News ^ | May 18, 2007 | Joel Leyden

[IsraelBeach]

Israel PR Public Relations Directory

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel ---- May 18, 2007 ...... Perhaps one of most challenging jobs in the world is promoting the State of Israel. PR professionals, governmental directors and academics integrate an accumulated sum of creative brain power to defend the tiny, democratic Jewish state through research, images, sound bytes and written words.

Not always agreeing, coming from a rainbow of political, religious, academic and professional backgrounds, the Israel public relations and public affairs professionals are the unsung heroes who confront a well oiled and continuous slanderous assault of PR campaigns based on racist hatred. On a daily basis these public relations pros outmaneuver and counter attack lies and propaganda coming from Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and countless other Islamic and neo-nazi groups whose only goal is to destroy Israel.

These Israel Pr professionals know all to well that the battle for global public opinion translates to the very security of Israel - the saving of both civilian and military lives.

The following article is dedicated to the memory of former Israel Foreign Minister Abba Eban, the father of professional Israel public affairs.

Who are these public relations professionals who dedicate their lives for the State of Israel?

Charley Levine is an Israel PR mans professional. Charley J. Levine serves as CEO of Lonestar Communications, one of Israel's most dynamic public affairs and media relations consultancies. Until June 2006, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Ruder Finn Israel, another large PR public relations agency in Israel.

Prior to October 1997, Levine served as President and CEO of Charles Levine Communications, which he founded in 1983. CLC, one of Israel’s largest public relations agencies with a client base including well-known Israeli and international corporations and organizations, became part of Ruder Finn Israel at that time.

Levine was born in 1952 and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He earned his BA with Honors in Philosophy and Near Eastern Studies at New York University and MA with Honors in Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Levine worked subsequently as Public Relations Executive of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, PR Director of Hadassah, the largest Diaspora Jewish organization and Director of Information for North America of the World Zionist Organization, in Jerusalem, after moving to Israel in 1978.

Levine was invited for five weeks to the University of Texas in 1996, as a visiting William Randolph Hearst Fellow, lecturing on Public Relations. He serves as a Captain (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces Spokespersons’s Office and is a long-time friend and media adviser to several national leaders including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Silvan Shalom, Uzi Landau, Isaac Herzog, Avraham Ravitz, Yuri Shtern, Benny Kasriel. He has worked with dozens of international leaders including US Vice President Al Gore, Malcolm Hoenlein, Edgar Bronfman, Cyril Stein, Rupert Murdoch, Ed Koch, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Sam Brownback and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Included in his clientele are General Electric, Bank of America, Jerusalem Global Ventures, Israel Aircraft Industries, ECI Telecom, Hebrew University, Nefesh B’Nefesh. Levine has been a monthly columnist for Hadassah Magazine since 2002. He has won several awards, the most recent of which were first place for "Best International Campaign" and "Best NGO Special Event" in 2005 from the Israel Public Relations Society.

Levine is a member of the prestigious on-line public relations forum, Israel Pr, which provides pro-bono media consultancy to the Prime Minister's Office, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces. His wife Shelly owns and operates a successful real estate practice, Tivuch Shelly, Ltd. The Levines live in a suburb of Jerusalem and have three children.

Founding Director of the prestigious Institute for Policy and Strategy of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Professor Uzi Arad is a well-respected figure in foreign policy, security and strategic circles. As the Institute, he established and chairs the Annual Herzliya Conference Series on Israel's Balance of National Security. Professor Arad also founded and chairs the Atlantic Forum of Israel. Recently, Professor Arad was empowered to assemble and nominated to char the Presidential World Jewish Forum. After twenty-five years of distinguished service in the Mossad, Israel's Secret Intelligence Service, during which he served in senior positions in Israel and abroad, culminating in his tenure as Director of Intelligence (at a Major General rank), Professor Arad was appointed by then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to serve as his Foreign Policy Advisor. After retiring from the civil service, Professor Arad was appointed by the Council of the European Union to establish and direct the EU-Israel Forum.

Today, Professor Arad is the Advisor of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Prior to his career in government, Professor Arad was a Professional Staff Member with the Hudson Institute in New York and Research Fellow at Tel Aviv University's Center for Strategic Studies. Professor Arad received his Bachelor's Degree from Tel Aviv University. In 1971, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for advanced studies at Princeton University, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in International Relations.

Israel Pr professional Daniel Seaman is the Director of the Israel Government Press Office which is part of the Office of the Prime Minister in Jerusalem. Appointed in December 2000, his office is responsible for working with the thousands of foreign media who cover events in Israel. Mr. Seaman is one of the foremost experts on the foreign press coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, having headed the Information and Foreign Press Departments since 1990 and having served as an officer for two years as the Israel Military Foreign Press Liaison. Mr. Seaman completed his BA in Political Science, with honors, at the City University of New York's Hunter College, while serving at the Consulate General of Israel in New York between 1983 and 1989. Mr. Seaman is an established speaker on behalf of the State of Israel, has given numerous interviews and has published several articles in the Israeli and international press. He has also served on several advisory councils, including the IDC's annual Herzliya Conference, the Ministry of Health, and the Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.

Israel Pr professional Itamar Marcus is the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch. Founded in 1996, PMW is an Israel NGO that studies Palestinian society from a broad range of perspectives by monitoring and analyzing the Palestinian Authority through its media and schoolbooks. PMW reports on summer camps, poetry, schoolbooks, crossword puzzles, religious ideology, women and mothers, children's video clips, and inciting children to 'martyrdom', have changed the way the world sees the Palestinians. Mr. Marcus represented Israel in the negotiations with the Palestinians on incitement in the Trilateral Anti-Incitement Committee (Israeli-Palestinian-American). Mr. Marcus has testified before the Education Subcommittee of the US Senate Committee on Allocations, has also presented before members of Congress, and to Members of Parliament in numerous countries including, the European Union, Britain, France, Canada, and Australia, and has lectured in universities and conferences world wide. PMW continues today to supply the world through its bulletins and reports with a precise understanding of the reality of the Palestinian Authority. The world's view of the Palestinian Authority is to a significant degree the result of PMW research.

Benjamin Netanyahu - the "master" of Israel Pr. Born in Tel­Aviv on October 21, 1949, Benjamin Netanyahu grew up in Jerusalem. He spent his high school years in the United States, where his father, the historian Professor Benzion Netanyahu, taught history. Returning to Israel in 1967, Mr. Netanyahu enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and served in an elite commando unit.

Before entering political life, Mr. Netanyahu served as a soldier and officer in an elite anti­terror unit in the Israel Defense Forces (1967­72). Mr. Netanyahu participated in various missions during the War of Attrition, including the Beirut Airport operation. He took part in the rescue of the hijacked Sabena Airlines hostages at Ben Gurion Airport, in which he was wounded. He was also cited for outstanding operational leadership by O.C. Northern Command, the late Maj. Gen. Motta Gur. He was discharged from the I.D.F. in 1972 and reached the rank of captain following the Yom Kippur War. Mr. Netanyahu received a B.Sc. in Architecture and an M.Sc. in Management Studies from MIT. He also studied political science at MIT and Harvard University. After completing his studies he was employed by the Boston Consulting Group, an international business consulting firm. He later joined the senior management of Rim Industries in Jerusalem.

In 1979 he initiated and organized an international conference against terrorism, under the auspices of the Jonathan Institute ­ a private foundation dedicated to the study of terrorism, which was named after his brother Jonathan who fell while leading the rescue party at Entebbe. World leaders, including former U.S. President George Bush and former Secretary of State George Shultz, participated in this conference and a subsequent one in 1984. Mr. Netanyahu has been credited by Mr. Shultz for his central role in effecting a change in American policies on international terrorism. In 1982, at the request of then­Ambassador Moshe Arens, Mr. Netanyahu assumed the position of Deputy Chief of Mission in the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He was a member of the first delegation to the talks on strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States. Two years later he was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations and served there for four years. As U.N. ambassador, Mr. Netanyahu led the effort that opened the U.N. Nazi War Crimes Archives in 1987.

Returning to Israel in 1988, Mr. Netanyahu was elected to the 12th Knesset as a Likud member and was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. During the Gulf War he served as Israel's principal representative in the international arena. In October 1991, he was a senior member of the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference, which initiated the first direct negotiations between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, and a joint Jordanian­Palestinian delegation.

On March 25, 1993, he was elected Likud Party Chairman and the party's candidate for Prime Minister. As Chairman of the Likud Party since 1993, Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister of Israel in May 1996 in the first direct election of prime minister in Israel, serving in this position until July 1999. Following his defeat in the 1999 elections, he resigned from the chairmanship of the Likud and from the 15th Knesset.

In November 2002 Benjamin Netanyahu was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Netanyahu is the author and editor of several books

Col. Olivier Rafowicz (res.) is perhaps the most potent rising star in Israel PR and public affairs. Olivier Rafowicz is a reserve colonel in the Israel Defense Forces responsible for international media operations. Rafowicz, who was born in France, was responsible for all IDF spokesperson activity from Israel's northern command. In 1999, he escaped death when a convoy he had joined was attacked by the Hezbollah with two roadside bombs. The explosions killed his commander and an Israeli journalist. Rafowicz was promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and placed in charge of the international desk. During that time he directed all international media activity during Operation Defensive Shield including the siege of Bethlehem's Church of Nativity by Islamic terrorists. Most recently, he directed much of all international media operations during the Israel Lebanon Hezbollah war. He has been interviewed by almost every major global news organization. Rafowicz served as a director with the Jewish Agency in France, responsible for immigration activities. Olivier Rafowicz today's serves as the CEO of Infolive.tv, the largest on-line video news operation in Israel. He is the author of Le temps du retour and resides in Jerusalem.

Israel Ambassador Dore Gold is President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He was the eleventh Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations (1997-1999). Previously he served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ambassador Gold has served as an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who asked him to accompany his entourage to Washington and to the 2003 Aqaba Summit with President George W. Bush. He was a member of the Israeli delegation at the 1998 Wye River negotiations between Israel and the PLO, outside of Washington. He negotiated the Note for the Record, which supplemented the 1997 Hebron Protocol, and in 1996 concluded the negotiations with the U.S., Lebanon, Syria, and France for the creation of the Monitoring Group for Southern Lebanon. In 1991, he served as an advisor to the Israeli delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference. From 1985 to 1996 he was a senior research associate at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, where he was Director of the U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy Project. Dr. Gold received his BA ('75), MA ('76), and PhD ('84) from Columbia University.

Ambassador Gold has written numerous books and articles on the Middle East, including U.S. Military Strategy in the Middle East (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense Publications, 1993); Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism (Washington: Regnery, 2003); and Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos (New York: Crown Forum, 2004). His articles have appeared in Asahi Shinbun, Commentary, Daily Telegraph, Die Zeit, Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Ofra, and their two children, Yael and Ariel.

David Horovitz was appointed editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post in October 2004, rejoining the paper having worked for The Post from 1983-1990. Since leaving The Post, he had worked at the award-winning newsmagazine The Jerusalem Report, where he was the editor from 1998 and publisher from 2001.

Horovitz has also written from Israel for newspapers around the world, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Irish Times and The (London) Independent. He has been a frequent interviewee on CNN, the BBC, NPR and other TV and radio stations.

Horovitz is the author of Still Life with Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism (2004). Horovitz is also the author of A Little Too Close to God : The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel (2000). He edited and co-wrote, with other members of staff, The Jerusalem Report’s 1996 biography of Yitzhak Rabin, Shalom, Friend, which was published in 12 countries and won the U.S. National Jewish Book Award for Non-Fiction. He won the 1995 Bnai Brith World Center award for journalism for his coverage of the previous year’s Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing.

Horovitz was born on in London on August 12, 1962, and immigrated to Israel in 1983. He does his army reserve service in the Educational Corps. He is married to Lisa and they have three children.

Israel Pr professional Judy Lash Balint is a Jerusalem-based journalist and writer. Ms. Balint moved to Israel from Seattle, WA in 1997 and is the author of Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times. (2002) and a contributor to the Fodor's Guide To Israel 2006 edition.

In 2003, Ms. Balint received the Mosaic Award for Excellence in Feature Writing about Israeli Peoplehood, Culture and Society and took second place in the Jerusalem Foundation's Excellence in Jerusalem Reporting contest.

Ms. Balint's work has appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world including the New York Post, Christian Science Monitor, Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz - Magazine, Israel News Agency, The Forward, Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Montreal Suburban, Moment Magazine, Jerusalem Report, World Jewish Digest, Whistleblower Magazine, London Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and numerous US Jewish weeklies.

Ms. Balint provides occasional commentary from Jerusalem for New Zealand Public Radio; the Dave Ross Show on Seattle's CBS affiliate, KIRO Radio, 710AM; KOMO Newsradio, Seattle's ABC affiliate; the Lee Rodgers Show on KSFO/ABC Keep up with Judy Lash Balint’s take on current events in Israel at www.jerusalemdiaries.com and jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com.

Hayim Azses is the founder and former director of the Kiryat Moriah Educational Center and of the Youth Department European Desk. Hayim Azses has extensive experience in the field of educational and leadership training, directing many projects at the Education Department of the Jewish Agency. He completed BA degrees in Middle Eastern Affairs, French Literature, Economics and English Literature at the Hebrew university. Hayim also studied at the Istanbul University and the Sorbonne in Paris, Hayim has published extensively. His works include anthologies, activity books, films, and audiovisual kits for educators.

Israel Pr professional Brigadier General (Res.) Nachman Shai is Senior Vice President of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and Director General of UJC Israel, a position he holds since March 2002. Shai brings his rich professional experience and array of skills to this preeminent leading American Jewish organization. In 1979, he became Press Secretary to the Israel Delegation to the United Nations, and in 1981 was named Press Advisor to the Israel Embassy in Washington. Since 1964 Shai has worked in a variety of positions in the Israeli media.

Starting out as a writer in the military journal “Ba’Machane Nachal,” working for the daily “Yedioth Aharonot”, to Kol Yisrael radio broadcasts and Israeli television. Nachman Shai served as Communications Advisor to the Minister of Defense and the IDF. Shai also held the position of Commander and Chief Editor of the popular Army Radio Station, Galei Zahal. In 1989, he was appointed to the position of IDF Spokesperson and rank of Brigadier General. Shai served as IDF spokesperson during the first Gulf War in 1991, and had the difficult task of calming the Israeli homefront, which was subjected to frequent missile attacks from Iraq. In 1991, Shai founded the first commercial television and radio network in Israel and served as CEO of the Second Authority for Television and Radio, and as Chairman of Israel Channel 2 News.

In 1999, he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport. With an MA cum laude degree from the Communications Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Shai completed advanced studies at the World Press Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Nowadays, he is studying for his PhD degree in Political Science at Bar Ilan University, researching Israel’s Public Diplomacy.

Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and one of the leading authorities on U.S.-Middle East policy. Dr. Bard is also the director of the Jewish Virtual Library (www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org), the world's most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture. Dr. Bard's work has been published in academic journals, magazines and major newspapers. He has written and edited17 books, including Myths And Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israel Conflict, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict and 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel. His newest book, Will Israel Survive? is due out in Spring 2007.

After a year of seminary study, three years of Israel army service on the Lebanese border and a years trek around Asia, Noam Bedein moved to Sderot to study at the Business School of the Sapir College Branch of Ben-Gurion University. He currently works at the new Sderot Media Information Center for the Western Negev Region of Israel.

Charles Chuman is the editor of the Lebanese Political Journal. He liveblogged the July 2006 war from Beirut, having previously liveblogged the Cedar Revolution from Martyrs' Square. He worked in the pan- Arab television market as director of market strategy for Signal One Media, and has extensive experience in the Emirati, Iraqi, Jordanian, and Lebanese markets. He is also involved in political consulting.

Israel Pr professional and journalist David Bedein, MSW from WSSW, has lived in Israel for more than thirty-five years. David founded and has run the Israel Resource News Agency, located in the Beit Agron International Press Center in Jerusalem, for the past 19 years. David designed Israel Resource News Agency to provide the media with insight as to what makes Israel tick, from the realm of social work to the world of the Intifada.

In 1997, Israel Resource News Agency was incorporated as part of the Center for Near East Policy Research, an academic research outfit based in Boston, whose chartered purpose is similar - to provide carefully researched information about Israel for the media. This past January 1st, David Bedein was named the President of the Center for Near East Policy Research.

The Center for Near East Policy Research published a book, writtem by Arlene Kushner, entitled 'DISCLOSED: INSIDE THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND THE PLO,' while helping to establish the Knesset Middle East Forum, to familiarize members and staffers of the Knesset with the inner workings of the Palestinian Authority.

In addition, Israel Resource News Agency and the Center for Near East Policy Research have organized seven briefings over the past three years for staffers of the US Congress concerning the Palestinian Authority.

An area of prime concern that David has focused on concerns UNRWA; the UN agency, which runs Palestinian Arab refugee camps under the premise and promise of the right of return for the past 55 years. In that capacity, David was invited to address the UN Correspondents Association as a guest of the United Nations this past November, where he addressed the topic of how the UN could help Palestinian refugees by dismantling their refugee camps and apply international standards of rehabilitation to ameliorate the plight of Palestinians.

Israel Resource News Agency has worked under special contract to provide features and investigative reports for more than 100 media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, AP, BBC, Front Page Magazine and more. During the Gulf War in 1991, David Bedein was the special CNN Radio correspondent in Israel.

David’s on-line magazine, Israel Resource Review, at www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com, now features a weekly on-line publication known as Inside the Palestinian Authority, which focuses on the Arabic media outlets of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, the agency and the center commissioned a series of investigative reports as to the fate of those who were evacuated from Katif and Samaria last summer. These reports feature prominently in the recently issued State Comptroller's Report on the Disengagement Process.

Israel Resource News Agency and the Center have issued a book, Inside the Palestinian Authority, with another book on the way, to be entitled THE WIZARD OF OSLO: HOW ARAFAT WAS REPACKAGED. Most recently, David pioneered the LET MY PEOPLE KNOW SPEAKERS BUREAU, www.lmpk.com, which brings informed people from Israel to the attention of the public at large, in Israel and abroad.

David is married to Sara Rosenblum, a native of Cleveland who grew up in Rehovot. Sara administers the Koby Mandell Foundation for terror victims. David and Sara have six children.

Dr. Mike Cohen, Senior Fellow at the Galilee Institute, is a veteran political and security analyst, strategist and commentator. A 22-year veteran IDF reserve officer, Dr. Cohen has been active in Israel, American and Israel-Diaspora politics in a wide variety of behind-the-scenes capacities since his teen years and has served in a range of advisory positions under five Israeli Prime Ministers dating back to the late Menachem Begin.

For the past ten years Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has been leading the struggle to fight the Palestinian and Islamic terrorist groups in the courtroom. She is currently representing hundreds of terror victims in lawsuits and legal actions against HAMAS, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Syria, Islamic Jihad and the European Union. The cases are litigated in the Israeli, American, Canadian and European courts. Attorney Darshan-Leitner is a graduate of the Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty and holds an MBA from Manchester University. She regularly appears in the media including Israeli talk show programs, Voice of Israel radio, CNN, the BBC, European television, the Jerusalem Report and many American and Canadian publications.

As a result of Ms. Darshan-Leitner and Shurat HaDin's courtroom victories, hundreds of terror victims reached out for her help in suing the terrorists and sponsors one who devastated their lives. Together with other activists lawyers in Israel she founded Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center in order to carry out efficiently the vital task of helping the terror victims to fight back. Following the model of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil right organization dedicated to bankrupting the K.K.K and other neo-Nazis groups in the US, Ms. Darshan-Leitner established Shurat HaDin to economically destroy the hate groups in the Middle East.

Ms. Darshan-Leitner has been involved in a wide-range of legal actions in Israel and abroad on behalf of other Jewish rights cases. She has sued the Egyptian Ambassador over his sexual assault of an Israel belly dancer. She represents the families of 12 missing Iranian Jews, believed to be secretly imprisoned in Tehran, in a civil action brought against the Mossad and Jewish Agency. Moreover, she has represented the family of a young Israeli officer accused of killing an anti-Israel I.S.M militant during an IDF operation in Gaza. Ms. Darshan-Leitner works with several other Israeli attorneys employed by Shurat HaDin in Israel and with numerous other law offices which serve as co-counsel on cases being litigated in courtrooms around the world.

A lawyer by training, "Aussie Dave" is a tireless advocate for Israel, through his popular Israellycool blog (http://www.israellycool.com) and podcast (http://www.israellycoolpodcast.com/). His liveblogging coverage of the recent Lebanon War attracted widespread attention, resulting in mainstream media interviews with Sky News and the BBC, and mentions by MSNBC and AFP. Dave is also the founder of the Jewish and Israeli blog awards, which were hosted by the Jerusalem Post in 2005

Jonathan Davis is Vice-President for External Relations of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, where he is also Head of the Raphael Recanati International School. Prior to this position, he was Director of the Division for Development and Public Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and also filled senior roles in the coordination of social and cultural services to immigrants, actively participating in the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry during "Operation Solomon" and promoting immigration from the FSU, North America and South Africa. Born in England and raised in the United States, Mr. Davis was educated at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York . He earned his BA in Jewish History and in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and pursued graduate studies at Tel Aviv University in the economics of developing countries. Jonathan Davis served in a paratrooper reconnaissance unit that was commanded by former Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz. This unit executed many behind-the- lines missions, including a mission on the Syrian-Iraqi border during the Yom Kippur War. Davis serves as a reserve officer in the IDF Spokesman’s Office briefing foreign journalists, escorting dignitaries and lecturing on the situation in the Middle East. During the Second Lebanon War, Major Jonathan Davis briefed hundreds of foreign journalists and appeared on numerous networks on behalf of the IDF Spokesman’s Office.

Brig. General (Res.) Amira Dotan, founder and Joint CEO of the The Mediation Center Neve - Zedek. Israel born, the first woman to reach the rank of Brig. General. Served in the I.D.F. and retired after completing a five years term as the Chief of the Women Corps. During her military service she earned her B.A. Degree in Behavioral Sciences and completed courses for a Master Degree (at Ben-Gurion University). In 1988 she was Vice President of Ben-Gurion University. Between 1989 and 1992 she chaired the Zionist Delegation to North America and represented the Jewish Agency Executive. Since 1992, she directs Business Network Israel (BNI), an American organization aimed at increasing business activities between Israel and North America. Her public activities include: directorship sin public companies, Special Advisor for Women's Affair in The Jewish Agency, Board Member at the New Foundation for Cinema and television, member of the Council for Peace and Security, Founder and Chairperson of the Middle East Career Forum, Chairperson of the Board of the Shechter Institute. She is graduate of Mediation courses in Israel and in the US.

Born and educated in the Philippines, Richard Fernandez received graduate degrees in Public Policy from Harvard University, and Applied Math from Case Western Reserve. From 1970 to 1986, he was active in the anti-Marcos movement, and from 1986 to 1990, he served as the Executive Director of an NGO that titled Filipino tribal lands. Richard was a consultant to the Philippine Peace Commission in its negotiations with the Muslim separatists from 1990 to 1993, and a consultant in community forestry to the Asian Development Bank for SGS, Switzerland from 1993 to 1996. In 1997, he emigrated to Australia where he worked as a software developer for eight years. He is currently the author of the “Belmont Club” and the Australian editor of Pajamas Media.

Israel Pr professional Charlotte Gutman is the founder and managing director of CGP Europe (Communications for Genial Products SA), a pan-European public relations agency created in 1991 and established in Brussels, Belgium, to serve the needs of companies aiming to market their products and services across Europe.

Dr. Joel Fishman is a Fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and has carried out research on political warfare, particularly propaganda, as an extension of hot warfare in the current conflict. Some of his of his recent contributions on the subject are: "Israel's Information Policy and the Challenge of of Ideological Warfare," Nativ Vol. 15, no 6 (November 2002): 58-64. (in Hebrew); "Information Policy and National Identity: Israel's Ideological War," Ariel Center for Policy Research Paper No. 142 (January 2003).; "Ten Years Since Oslo: The PLO's 'People's War' Strategy and Israel 's Inadequate Response," Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Viewpoints No. 503, 1 September 2003. "The Cold-War Origins of Contemporary Anti-Semitic Terminology," Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Viewpoints No. 517, 2-16 May 2004. La Guerre d'Oslo (with co-author Prof. Ephraim Karsh), Paris: Editions de Passy, 2005. At present, Dr Fishman has completed an article, "The Big Lie and the Media War against Israel; From Inversion of the Truth to Inversion of Reality," which is currently under consideration by a learned journal.

Anna Geifman, PhD, is the author of Thou Shalt Kill: Revolutionary Terrorism in Russia, 1894-1917 (Princeton University Press, 1993) and Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution (Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers, Inc., 2000). She is the editor of Russia under the Last Tsar: Opposition and Subversion, 1894-1917 (Blackwell, 1999). She has also authored journal articles and book chapters on Russian political and cultural history, as well as psychohistory. Her last major publication is a psychohistorical essay, La mort sera votre dieu: du nihilisme russe au terrorisme islamiste (« La Table Ronde :» Paris, 2005). Geifman is Professor of History at Boston University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on the history of imperial Russia, the USSR, and psychohistory.

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is an international business strategist who has been a consultant to governments, international agencies, and boards of some of the world’s largest corporations. His current fields of research include anti-Semitism, European-Israel relations, post-Holocaust studies and Jewish environmental studies. Among his ten books are Europe’s Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today’s Anti-Semitism; Israel and Europe: An Expanding Abyss and European-Israeli Relations: Between Confusion and Change (Another book he has edited, Academics against Israel, will appear in 2007.)

Amir Gissin is the Director of Public Affairs Department and a senior spokesman for the Israel Foreign Ministry. Mr. Gissin has been at the forefront of Israel’s public relations war during the second Intifadah, The second Gulf war and during recent events. He is a professional and creative diplomat who has had postings in several Israel embassies. Formerly the assistant foreign policy advisor to Israel Prime Ministers Netanyahu and Barak, and chief of staff of the Minister for the World Jewish Community, Mr. Gissin was also the CEO of the "Mosaica" Research center for State, Society and Religion, and the CEO of the Shalom Beinenu (“Peace between Us”) Foundation.

Israel Pr professional Dr. Raanan Gissin, Strategic Consultant and former advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Col. (Res.) Raanan Gissin PhD., a Strategic Analyst, has in recent years become one of Israel’s leading spokesmen for the foreign press and the international community on security and strategic issues, and the peace process. Until recently (2001-2006) he served as Foreign Press and Public Adviser to the Prime Ministers of Israel. He is currently serving as a Foreign Press Liaison for the 7th Annual Herzliya Conference

Israel Pr professional Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi is an internationally recognized expert in public policy, communications, public opinion research, media and politics. Prior to starting The Israel Project, she was founder and president of Laszlo & Associates, Inc., a strategic communications and training company. She worked on winning political campaigns and communications efforts in the United States, France, Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent, Ukraine and Venezuela. She worked on projects with the White House, dozens of U.S. senators and a host of advocacy organizations. Mrs. Mizrahi has been interviewed on "One-on-One with John McLaughlin," CNN, CNBC, FOX and MSNBC. She has been profiled in several publications including The Washington Post and Working Woman and Lifestyles. President George H.W. Bush recognized Mrs. Mizrahi as "A Point of Light" for her efforts in the non-profit and Jewish communities. Co-founding the DCJCC's Community Services Program remains one of her proudest achievements. Mrs. Mizrahi previously served as chairman of the DC Jewish Community Center's National Institute for Public Leadership. She chairs her local UJC campaign, is an alumnus of the UJC's Young Leadership Cabinet and is a member of The National Press Club. She is co-director of the Mizrahi Family Charitable Trusts and has been honored by the Baltimore Zionist District and Aleph Bet Jewish Day School.

Aryeh Green is the director of MediaCentral, a new initiative providing support services to journalists visiting or based in Israel. An advisor to former minister Natan Sharansky on issues relating to Hasbara, anti- Semitism and young Jewish leadership, Aryeh has been active in public diplomacy and Israel advocacy for over two decades, since arriving in Israel in 1984. He is presently involved in a number of projects encouraging greater freedom and democracy in Palestinian society and the region, and speaks frequently on these topics in universities and communities across North America and Europe. While not promoting Israel, spending time with his wife and three children, or making wine, Aryeh has spent the past 15 years in executive marketing positions or consulting for many of Israel’s leading companies, including ECI Telecom, AudioCodes, Aladdin, Bank Hapoalim, Lannet, Finjan, Telrad-Connegy, and others.

Lisa Goldman is a Canadian-Israeli journalist and blogger. Her articles have been published in The Guardian, the Jewish Quarterly, Haaretz (English edition), Alma Magazine (owned by Yedioth Ahronoth), Israel21c.com and the Jerusalem Post. She also works as a translator and researcher for the Israel bureau chief of Corriere Della Sera. During the Israel-Hezbollah war her blog, On the Face, was widely quoted in the international media. She was interviewed for articles that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Le Monde, Liberation, La Repubblica and The Guardian, amongst many others. Time Magazine chose her blog as one of the 50 "coolest" websites of 2006. During the war she was also interviewed on CNN, CTV (Canada), NHK (Japan), Bavaria's Zum Funk Radio, NPR Radio and BBC Radio's Live at Five and World Have Your Say. Lisa is the author of City Guide Tel Aviv, the first sophisticated traveler's book about Tel Aviv in English, which was described by Tel Aviv's Ha'Ir newspaper as a summary of "nearly all the Foreign Ministry's public relations efforts of the past 58 years in one book." She lives in Tel Aviv.

Stephanie Gutmann has been a working journalist for about 16 years. She received a degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She was a staff reporter for the New York Post and has freelanced for publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Elle, the New Republic and the Weekly Standard. Her first book, The Kinder, Gentler Military, about the effect of political correctness on the U.S. military, was published in 2000 by Scribner and was listed among Notable Nonfiction for that year by the New York Times Book Review. The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy was published in 2005 by Encounter Books. The Jerusalem Post called The Other War an "insightful book on how organs like CNN, the BBC and others give a grossly distorted picture of [the conflict.]"

Joe Hyams is the CEO of HonestReporting.Com. His focus is on delivering efficiency and professionalism as HR moves into new technological and geographical spheres. 140,000 subscribers across six continents use HonestReporting material and expertise to monitor, understand and respond effectively to specific errant reports and long term bias trends. The development of affiliate sites (UK, Brazil, Italy, Russia and www.teachkidspeace.com ), and the Dec 20th launch of MediaCentral (downtown Jerusalem resource lounge for foreign journalists) are the focus of his work through the next phase of the organization's growth. Joe immigrated to Israel from the UK in 2000. He brings 9 years of Media and Marketing know-how to HonestReporting, as former Commercial Director of London's oldest advertising agency and Strategic Planner for Saatchi & Saatchi Tel Aviv. Joes latest book is titled The Holocaust in Sephardic Communities (in series: Dreams, Dilemmas and Decisions of Jewish Leaders, vol. 5).

Israel Pr professional Jacob Dallal was born in Chicago and graduated the University of Chicago, concentrating in political philosophy. Following college, Dallal was with CBS News in New York (at Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt and the weekend news) and at ABC News in Paris (with Jim Bittermann as bureau chief). Dallal then moved to Israel and worked as a reporter for the Jerusalem Post and then as editor of the Post’s weekly magazine on Jerusalem affairs, In Jerusalem.

In January 2001, he joined the IDF as a career officer in the International Press office of the Spokesperson’s Unit. I served as deputy head of the office, responsible for North American media, as spokesperson and liaison for the army with the press. I have appeared on television as a spokesperson for the army on CNN, Fox, BBC, ABC’s Nightline, and in reports from Israel on the evening news on the major networks; in the print media, on AP, in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times and others.

Since taking up his post in 2001, Dallal was involved in all the dramatic events of the last four years: among these, during Operation Defensive Shield, Dallal took the first pool of reporters into the West Bank city of Jenin, following the intense fighting there; Dallal was in Bethlehem during the siege at the Church of the Nativity and on the day that the siege ended; throughout the conflict, Dallal escorted journalists on arrest missions in the West Bank, and in Gaza, along the border with Egypt near Rafah, as weapons smuggling tunnels were discovered; Dallal took journalists to the war room as large-scale operations were taking place, and I have taken journalist up and down the security fence throughout the West Bank. Finally, Dallal was closely involved in coordinating press coverage of the army evacuation of Israel settlements in Gaza in August. Since finishing his work as spokesperson he has spoken at nearly 20 universities in the US, as well as in various local communities. Dallal recently wrote an article for The New Republic, titled “Bad Information: The Lesson of Jenin,” a first person account of the press coverage during the fighting in the West Bank city of Jenin in 2002. (The article was featured as the lead story at The New Republic Online on Aug. 5-7, 2005.)

Charles Jacobs is a long-time activist in the Jewish community and beyond. In 1988, he co-founded the Boston branch of CAMERA which became the national office. In 1993, Charles founded the American Anti-Slavery Group, which brought international attention to the enslavement of tens of thousands of black Africans by Arabs in Sudan. During Passover, 2001, Charles flew into Sudan on a rescue mission that freed thousands of slaves. Charles has published widely on this topic including in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and the Encyclopedia Britannica. He has appeared on local and national television and radio, including NBC, CBS, NPR, CNN and PBS. In September of 2000, Coretta Scott King and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino presented Charles with the Boston Freedom Award for his abolitionist work. Jacobs has testified before Congress three times and on October 21, 2002, was invited to the White House signing of the Sudan Peace Act, where he met and spoke with President Bush. In the summer of 2002, in response the sudden emergence of a new global anti-Semitism, Charles founded The David Project which promotes a fair and honest discussion of the Middle East conflict, and which has evolved into a Center for Jewish Leadership. Charles received his doctoral degree in social policy from Harvard. He lives with his wife and their two daughters in a suburb of Boston.

Allison Kaplan Sommer worked in local television and radio stations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts before attending and receiving her M.S. from Columbia School of Journalism. Following graduation, she worked for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York as a print reporter, covering the United Nations and national Jewish organizations for Jewish newspapers across the U.S. In 1990, she moved to Washington, DC to become the Jerusalem Post’s Washington correspondent (following Wolf Blitzer’s departure to CNN) where she covered the first Gulf War, the Madrid peace conference and the subsequent talks between Israel, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinians. In 1993, she relocated to Tel Aviv, where she continued to write for the Post for nine more years as a news reporter, feature writer, and columnist. In 2002, she left the Post and discovered blogging – creating “An Unsealed Room,” one of the first Israel blogs in English. For the past four years she has served as associate editorial director of Israel 21c where among other responsibilities, she currently edits the blog Israelity. Since August 2006, she has served as Middle East editor for Pajamas Media. She lives north of Tel Aviv in the town of Ra’anana with her husband and three children.

Philippe Karsenty worked as a financial consultant for over ten years. After a brief foray into French politics in 2002, he founded Media Ratings ( www.M-R.fr), the first-ever French media rating agency. The organization established its own method of analysis to scrutinize the media. Media-Ratings deals with a wide variety of topics ranging from politics and sports to international news pieces, and analyzes all types of media. Since 2004 Media Ratings has been served with a number of defamation law suits by mainstream media organizations. Most recently, Media Ratings lost an important legal battle against France 2 and Charles Enderlin after it presented evidence that the network falsified a news report on the "death" of Muhammed al- Dura. The judge cited the Government of Israel's failure to submit a formal complaint about the images in question to validate his ruling in favor of France 2.

Benjamin Kerstein was born in Boston in 1978. He escaped to Israel in 2002 and is now a writer, blogger, essayist, poet, film critic, aspiring novelist, and a student of Jewish and Israeli history at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva. For the last three years, Benjamin has published the blog Diary of an Anti-Chomskyite (www.antichomsky.blogspot.com) which presents extensive critiques of writings by Noam Chomsky and other anti-American and anti-Zionist intellectuals. He has published articles in Ha’aretz, Ynet, Azure Magazine, Senses of Cinema and the Jerusalem Post. He lives in Beersheva and remains an unapologetic participant in the struggle for Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish and Zionist state.

Another Brooklyn boy Yaakov Kirschen, The Drybones Blog. Born on March 8, 1938. Graduated from Queens College 1961. Wrote and drew funny cards for Norcross. After dismissal for loudness and jocular attitude became a freelance gag cartoonist for the former "Mad Mag" guys who were then doing "Cracked". Moved on to doing cartoons for Playboy. Included in several "Best Of" Playboy anthologies. Fell in with the anti-Vietnam War folks and was actually elected delegate to the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago where, in spite of all the riots, was unable to get arrested. In 1971 moved to Israel, changed first name from Jerry to Yaakov, and in 1973 began drawing a daily editorial strip called Dry Bones. In 2003 the toon celebrated its 30th year in the Jerusalem Post. It has been reprinted or quoted by the NY Times, Time Mag, LA Times, CBS, AP, etc. Forbes Mag said about Kirschen: "In the tradition of Nast, Herblock, and Mauldin."

Israel Pr professional and journalist Reuven Koret is publisher of Israel Insider, an independent English language daily online newsmagazine and interactive community focusing on Mideast politics, diplomacy, and security. His Tel Aviv company, Koret Communications, also publishes Jewsweek magazine and produces the Jewish Content digital marketplace and the Shmooze knowledge network, as well as the online networks of Taglit-birthright israel, ISRAEL21c, the Avi Chai Foundation, and Caravan for Democracy, the student activist website of the JNF. Koret Communications also produces "Israel's Story in Maps" as a Flash-based CD and online interactive educational tool, which the Israeli Foreign Ministry uses as a primary cartographic resource for explaining Israel's changing borders and historical claims to its land. Koret, an American immigrant and Princeton graduate, is a frequent speaker and analyst of media coverage of the middle east. At the inaugural CAMERA conference in 1989, he produced "Romancing the Stones," an interactive video documentary of US TV network coverage of the first Intifada.

Prof. Richard Landes, was the Head of the Media Working Group for the 7th Annual Herzliya Conference Richard Landes is a professor of medieval history at Boston University. His work focuses on the role of religion in shaping and transforming the relationships between elites and commoners in various cultures, in particular the impact of "demotic religiosity" which prizes equality before the law, dignity of manual labor, and access to sacred texts and divinity for all believers. For the past 10 years he has directed the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University and is now working on two volumes, the first entitled Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of the Millennial Experience, and the second, While God Tarried: Demotic Millennialism from Jesus to the Peace of God, 33-1033. He has written and lectured widely on the role of communications technology – from the invention of writing to modern media – in shaping public awareness and discussion, and, in some rare cases, in establishing and maintaining civil society. He has recently launched a media-oversight project called The Second Draft in which he proposes to look at what the news media calls their “first draft of history.” His opening dossier is Pallywood (Palestinian cameramen staging news using Western cameras and feeding it to cooperative news editors) and the Muhamed al Durah Affair (the staging of the “death” of a 12 year old Palestinian boy at Netzarim Junction on September 30, 2000).

Maj. Avital Leibovich is the Head of the Foreign Press Division in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit (Dover Tzahal). Prior to joining this unit, she served as the head of the IDF’s Northern Development Unit, where she was responsible for liaising with institutions of higher learning in the North, and as head of the Hasbara Department in the IDF’s Foreign Relations Division. As her knowledge of communications developed, Avital was appointed Coordinator of International Organizations for Dover Tzahal in 1999. In 2002, during her last year in this position, Avital earned a certificate in Correspondence, Communications, and International Relations from Bar-Ilan University. She spent the next three years as the Spokesperson for the IDF’s Northern Command, dealing with domestic and international media during the withdrawal from Lebanon. In the past year, Avital managed and initiated Dover Tzahal’s activities with the international print and electronic print media. She has a BA in English literature and national studies from Bar-Ilan University and an MA in International Relations from the University of Haifa.

Mary Madigan is a web designer and blogger who contributes to Dean's World as well as her own blog, "Exit Zero". Her essay concerning Saudi women's rights was published in the Wall Street Journal and her essay "Arabists vs. the Middle East" was published in Campus Watch. Mary currently lives in Hoboken with her husband and two children.

Dr. Emmanuel Navon is an International Relations lecturer at Tel-Aviv University and a business consultant. He earned his MA in Public Administration from Sciences-Po Paris, one of Europe's most distinguished universities, and his Ph.D. in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While at Sciences-Po, he interned at the French Foreign Ministry and at the French Ministry of Finance. During his graduate studies, he consulted to the Israeli Foreign Ministry on UN reform and was a research fellow at the Shalem Center. He was awarded the Yehoshafat Harkabi Prize for his MA Thesis and the Yaacov Herzog Prize for his Doctoral Dissertation. He started his academic career as a lecturer in Public Administration at Bar-Ilan University and subsequently joined the Abba Eban Graduate Studies Program in Diplomacy at Tel-Aviv University. He has published extensively in academic journals and is a frequent public speaker in Israel and abroad. In parallel to Academia, he is active in business and in public diplomacy. He is a senior consultant for Arttic, the leading group in Europe and Israel specialized in the preparation and management of technology-based partnerships, and was formerly CEO of the Business Network for International Cooperation (BNIC), an organization that trained Israeli business leaders for pro-Israel advocacy overseas. His paper on "Arab Propaganda and the Erosion of Israel's International Standing" was submitted to the Sixth Herzliya Conference, and he co-authored on behalf of the Institute for Policy and Strategy a guide to pro-Israel advocacy for Jewish students in the Diaspora. He lives in Efrat with his wife and four children.

Dr. Reuven Paz was born and raised in Haifa, Israel, where he finished his academic education in Arabic language and literature and Middle Eastern studies, specializing on Islam and modern Islamic thought. Reuven Paz is fluent in written and spoken Arabic. Reuven Paz served between 1971-1994 in the Israeli Security Service, dealing mainly with Palestinian and Arab issues. His most senior post was the head of the research department of the Israel Security Service. Most of his studies, research, and field of experience in the past 30 years focused on Islam, Islamic culture, Islamic radicalism, development of radical Islamic doctrines, and Palestinian society both in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and all over the world. His research combines academic work with long field experience. Reuven Paz was a visiting fellow in the Dayan Center in Tel-Aviv University and twice in The Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, D.C. In 1989-1998 he lectured in the department of Middle Eastern studies at Haifa University, about radical Islamic movements and Palestinian society. In 1997-2000 he was the academic director of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, Israel. In 2003 he established the Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM – www.e-prism.org) in the GLORIA Center at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel, which he directs. PRISM focuses on research in the field of Islamic radical movements and ideology and global Jihad. Reuven Paz has published so far dozens of articles in the field of Palestinian society and politics, and global radical Islam. He also gave 14 expert testimonies in U.S. courts in cases that involve terrorism.

Nidra Poller is the Paris editor of Pajamas Media. Published by Commentary, National Post, TCSDaily, Makor Rishon, Wall Street Journal, jihadwatch, , AtlasShrugs, City Journal, Jewish Quarterly, FrontPage Magazine, American Thinker, National Review Online, New York Sun, SPME Faculty Forum, Israel Hasbara Committee, LibertyVox, Metula News Agency, Guysen Israel News, L’Arche. Lectures on campus - including Harvard, UNCC, CCSU, Haifa U. and Tel Aviv U. —in synagogues, schools, JCCs and think tanks. Recent appearances were sponsored by CAMERA, David Project, Israel Project, JCPA. Interviewed by John Batchelor, Joseph Farah, Dale Hurd, Manfred Gerstenfeld, Lori L. Marcus, Dennis Prager, Rabbi Shaul Praver, Janet Parshall, Rabbi Amiel Wohl. Born in Jessup Pennsylvania in 1935. BA in History from the University of Wisconsin (1956 FKF), MA from Johns Hopkins University (1969 Writing Seminars). Living in Paris since 1972. Author of [unpublished] novels, short stories, illustrated books for young readers, translations (including two works by Emmanuel Levinas).

Israel Pr professional Mark Regev assumed the post of Spokesman of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November 2004. Prior to his current position Mr. Regev served as Spokesman at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C (1999 – 2004). Since 1991, Mr. Regev held a variety of positions at the Foreign Ministry, including Deputy Chief of Mission at the Consulate General in Hong Kong, Spokesman at the Embassy in Beijing and at the Jordan Division at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem. Before joining the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Regev taught International Relations and Strategy at the Israel Defense Forces' Staff College. Mr. Regev received his Bachelor's degree in History and Political Science at Melbourne University, Australia. Mr. Regev holds a Master's degree in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as a Master of Science in Management from Boston University.

Joe"l Rubinfeld is President of the Brussels-based think tank Atlantis Institute and Secretary-General of the Belgium-Israel Friendship Society. He holds a degree in Communication from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Brussels, 1991), and regularly writes opinion pieces published in the main French- speaking Belgian newspapers (Le Soir, La Libre Belgique, L'Echo) and in Israeli dailies (Yediot Aharonot, The Jerusalem Post). and is the author of the chapter on Belgium in the book Les Habits neufs de l'antise'mitisme (Under the Direction of Manfred Gerstenfeld and Shmuel Trigano, Editions Cafe' Noir, 2004), in which he analyses the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Belgium following the outbreak of the second Intifada, and of a study on the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the Belgian media, published in L'antise'mitisme apre`s la Shoah (La Pense'e et les Hommes, 2003).

Dr. Ron Schleifer is deputy head of the Department of Communications, College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel. Research fields: communication and defense issues, including information warfare in general and psychological warfare in particular. His book on psychological warfare in the first Intifada was published recently by Sussex Academic Press and his book on psychological warfare in Hebrew is coming out with Maarchot – Ministry of Defense Publishing House in January.

Rani Rogel, the CEO of Doran Communications was the winner of the best PR campaign award - The Roaring Lion - in 2003. Doran Communications specializes in providing a wide range of public relations, marketing and business development services for companies in all areas of business. Doran has acquired considerable experience and expertise, in the service of international and Israeli companies.

Doran Communications was established in 1988 by Raanan (Rani) Rogel, whose professional background includes working in advertising agencies and managing and editing the weekly magazine People and Computers - the Israeli edition of InformationWeek. As part of Rogel's total service approach, Doran Communications Israel has established a business development entity that focus in assisting our customers in establish marketing activity and tracking investment sources locally and around the world. Doran's mission is to promote business opportunities to customers and investors throughout our network of contacts and our strategic partners around the world. Among Doran's international clients are Intel, Sun, Cisco, Symantec and NASDAQ.

Candy Shinaar is the co-founder of CoHaV, an international coalition of volunteer Israel advocacy groups and organizations, which assist each other and coordinate international campaigns and projects. She is also an activist for government reform, and presently working on the establishment of a Youth Knesset. She was nominated for the Charles Bronfman Prize humanitarian award of 2004.

Lee Smith is Washington, DC-based journalist specializing in Middle East affairs who contributes regularly to the Weekly Standard. A Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute, Smith is finishing a book on the Arab world after September 11 for Doubleday, and a monograph on Arab media. He has spent extensive time in the region, having lived in Cairo and most recently Beirut, which he left in the course of this summer’s Israel- Hezbollah war, before making his way to Israel to work on several projects with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Leah Soibel is Senior Advisor for Research/Communications at The Israel Project. Soibel specializes in Arab cyber-public diplomacy after 9/11; researching Arab political communication methods through internet websites. Additionally, she monitors extremist groups' website content and online infrastructures. Soibel has conducted research on public diplomacy in North African countries and in the Levant. She studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo and has an M.A. in Security Policy Studies and the Middle East from George Washington University.

Yitzhak Sokoloff is the founder and Executive Director of Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel. He was also the founder of the Jerusalem Public Policy Center and a Rennert Fellow of Bar Ilan University. He studied at Columbia University, Hebrew University and Bar Ilan and at the Shalom Hartman Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies. He taught Political Science and Jewish Philosophy at the Rothberg School of Hebrew University and then served in the Israel Defense Ministry. Mr. Sokoloff has lectured widely on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the challenges facing Israel’s public relations efforts. He delivered several briefings for congressional staff and members on Capitol Hill and to senior media executives on the practice of incitement in the Palestinian media and appeared as a political analyst on television and radio programs in the United States, Canada and Israel. Most notably, he studied the battle of Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield and conducted several lecture tours of American Universities during the height of the controversy.

Beginning in 2002, Yitzhak began to develop therapeutic based educational programs for the families of Israeli terrorist victims under the auspices of the Koby Mandell Foundation. During the recent war in Lebanon he introduced and implemented a unique educational program for Israel soldiers emerging from challenging combat situations.

Martin Solomon is the author of the popular blog site Solomonia.com, a member of the Pajamas Media blogging network. Solomon is a small business owner who felt the call to write as he watched a rising-tide of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism sweeping out of Europe and the Middle East that a moribund mainstream media was unequipped to face seriously in the post-9/11 era. A frequent and long-time participant in the rough and tumble of internet discussion and argument, he noticed a growing and disturbing trend toward a nihilistic anti-Western attitude and a resurgence of old hatreds long thought banished, but now showing themselves as only having been at rest. He started his web site, in part, to fight that awakening. In an era where many of our elites are asleep at the wheel of our society, Solomon takes the view that it’s come to the “average Joe” to take the wheel and steer the ship by harnessing the power of the alternative media.

Gerald Steinberg is a Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, directs the Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation, heads NGO Monitor and is a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He specializes in Middle East diplomatic issues, Israeli politics, and the political dimension of international law. He works with a number of international organizations (NATO, UN University, OSCE, SIPRI) and universities, is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and his articles appear in the Wall St. Journal, the International Herald Tribune, etc. Recent publications include “Soft Powers Play Hardball: NGOs Wage War against Israel”, Israel Affairs (2006); "The UN, the ICJ and the Separation Barrier: War by Other Means" Israel Law Review, (38:1-2, 2005) and “Realism, Politics and Culture in Middle East Arms Control Negotiations” International Negotiation, Vol. 10 (2005).

Israel Pr professional Marcus Sheff is a communications and media professional who has lived and worked in Israel for the past twenty years. As a student activist in the UK, Marcus was elected General Secretary of Leeds University Union and held various national positions in the student union movement. As a delegate to the World Festival of Students in 1985, he made a rare public pro-Israel speech in Soviet Moscow. Moving to Israel and completing his army service, he began work as a political reporter for The Nation, covering the 1988 general election for the paper. After two years as an editor at The Jerusalem Post, Marcus set up “The Word Shop”, a marketing communications and PR company whose clients included government ministries and a large percentage of Israel’s Top 20 companies.

Selling “The Word Shop” in 1998, Marcus began representing and consulting to international publishers and media organizations in Israel and around the world, as well as consulting in PR and communications and serving on the editorial board of “Engage”, a UK-based organization that challenges contemporary anti-Semitism and fights the academic boycott. As a reserve officer in the IDF Spokesperson Unit, Marcus has been a prominent spokesperson for the IDF during every recent crisis including Operation Defensive Shield, Operation Rainbow, The Gaza Disengement and The second Lebanon War. He also trains senior IDF officers in media skills.

Marcus has been interviewed on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, BBC World and domestic networks, IBA News (Israel TV) as well as dozens of other international TV and radio outlets. He has been published in The Jerusalem Post, The Nation, Time Out, The Jewish Chronicle, New Moon, Issues in Focus and other publications. Marcus holds a BA (honors) degree in Political Studies from the University of Leeds, specializing in International Relations and Modern Jewish History. He is married to Inbal, a lawyer and has two children.

Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA's Israel Office, has been with CAMERA since 1999. She regularly communicates with editors at major media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, ABC News, and the Associated Press and has elicited countless corrections in print and on the air. Since opening CAMERA's Israel office in 2004, Sternthal has also monitored the English-language Israeli daily Ha'aretz. The editor of CAMERA on Campus, she writes for CAMERA's Media Report and Web site. Formerly the Associate Editor of the Jewish Advocate of Boston, her columns have appeared in newspapers across America.

Michael J. Totten is a freelance journalist and blogger who frequently reports from the Middle East. He covered the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, the Hezbollah war from the Israeli side, and has also reported from Libya, Iraq, and Egypt. Immediately prior to attending this conference he spent three weeks gathering new material in Beirut and South Lebanon. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Time, the L.A. Weekly, Beirut's Daily Star, TCS Daily, Reason Magazine and the Australian edition of Newsweek.

David Nordell has a rich experience in journalism especially in economics and business, science and technology. Nordell was an associate editor of the Israel Economist; business correspondent for the Jerusalem Post; economic correspondent for Associated Press in Israel; Israel correspondent for several overseas publications; research and science policy columnist for leading Israeli daily Haaretz. Consultant specialising in economic and business communications, economic and technology policy, complex business planning and international cooperation and development.

Public-sector clients included Israel Export Institute (government-private sector partnership), for which Nordell developed Israel's international economic image campaign and several policy projects; Israel Ministry of Science and Technology, for which Nordell was the first adviser on Internet and information infrastructure policy; Israel Ministry of Finance, for which Nordell initiated the first Economist Round Table with the Government of Israel. Private sector clients have included Luz Solar Energy; Battelle Memorial Laboratories (the largest private R&D organisation in the USA); and the Israel Contractors Association, for which Nordell wrote the project proposals and briefing books for three Middle East economic summit conferences. Currently founder and CEO of New Global Markets, a financial services start-up based in London and Tel Aviv.

Judith Weiss was born and raised in Dallas, and has lived in Philadelphia, Austin, and now New York. She has degrees in graphic and instructional design, and her most recent full-time job was as project manager for a technical training company. She edits Kesher Talk, one of the first Jewish political blogs. With contributors in Portland, San Francisco, New York, and Beersheva, Kesher Talk is unique in its bohemian sensibilities, user- friendly approach to Jewish practice, and sophisticated centrist politics with an emphasis on hawkish foreign policy.

Dr. Michael Widlanski specializes in Arab politics and communication at The Hebrew University, and has served as reporter, correspondent, editor and media monitor, respectively, at The New York Times, The Cox Newspapers, The Jerusalem Post, and IDF Radio. He has also served as Strategic Affairs Advisor to the Ministry of Public Security, editing secret PLO Archives captured in Jerusalem.