On December 3, 2025, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at CDDRL hosted Dr. Emmanuel Navon, a French-born Israeli international relations scholar and author of The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel, for a webinar moderated by Amichai Magen, Director of the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program. Covering 3,5000 years of Israeli foreign policy, Navon—a lecturer on International Relations at Tel Aviv University and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security—explored tensions between political realism (the "scepter") and idealism (the "star") that have shaped Jewish diplomatic thought throughout history. Focused on Vladimir Jabotinsky, David Ben-Gurion, and others, Navon argued that from October 7, 2023, Israeli strategic thinking shifted: facing ideologically-driven enemies willing to sacrifice everything for Israel's destruction, Israelis watched the "iron wall" doctrine of deterrence collapse physically and conceptually.

Navon noted that post-October 7 Israel must move strategically beyond containment and actively dismantle existential threats. He also described a spiritual reawakening among Israelis redefining their Jewish identities in response to unrelenting hatred. He contextualized the global focus on Israel within debates over Western values, democracy, and resistance to Islamist ideology. In response to audience questions about antisemitism, information warfare, and the blurring lines between Israeli foreign policy and diaspora concerns, Navon outlined how, through sophisticated propaganda and rhetoric centered on justice and self-determination, Israel's adversaries project their own colonial ambitions and human rights abuses onto Israel.

A full recording of the webinar can be viewed below: