On Monday, January 9, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Hoover Institution's Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on the Middle East and the Islamic World are pleased to welcome Izabella Tabarovsky for a talk titled From Soviet Antisemitism to Contemporary Antizionism.

Izabella Tabarovsky is a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism, a sought-after speaker and lecturer, and the author of Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide (Wicked Son). She is a fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC; senior fellow with the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities in Palo Alto; and a fellow with the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa.

A contributing writer at Tablet, she has also published in Newsweek, Sapir, Quillette, The National Interest, Fathom, The Forward, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Her essays have appeared in several edited volumes, including October 7: The Wars over Words and Deeds (Academic Studies Press); The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century: From the Academic Boycott Campaign into the Mainstream (Routledge); Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays(Routledge); Sionismo y antisionismo: Un debate necesario (RiL editores); and Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People (Wicked Son). Her work has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Polish, Russian, Czech, and other languages.

Follow her on X @IzaTabaro

On Wednesday, February 25, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is pleased to welcome Israeli journalist, news presenter, and prime-time television host Lucy Aharish to present the 2026 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture.

The Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture honors the life of Daniel Pearl (Class of '85), who was a journalist, musician, and family man dedicated to the ideals of peace and humanity. In 2002, Daniel was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan while working as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

The 2026 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture is presented by the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program in partnership with Hillel at Stanford.
 

On Wednesday, January 14, the Jan Koum Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is pleased to welcome Ambassador Dennis Ross — a veteran U.S. negotiator in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations and advisor on Middle East policy — to discuss his latest book, Statecraft 2.0: What America Needs to Lead in a Multipolar World. The discussion will be in conversation with Michael McFaul and moderated by Amichai Magen.

About the Book

In a world that is multipolar and America has less relative power, the United States no longer has the luxury to practice statecraft badly.

The United States may still be the world's strongest country, but it now faces real challenges at both a global and regional level. The unipolar world which was dominated by America after the Cold War is gone. Unlike the Soviet Union, China is both a military and economic competitor and it is actively challenging the norms and institutions that the US used to shape an international order during and after the Cold War. Directly and indirectly, it has partners trying to undo the American-dominated order, with Russia seeking to extinguish Ukraine, and Iran trying to undermine American presence, influence, and any set of rules for the Middle East that it does not dominate.

The failures of American policy in Afghanistan and Iraq have weakened the domestic consensus for a US leadership role internationally. Traditions in US foreign policy, especially the American sense of exceptionalism, have at different points justified both withdrawal and international activism. Iraq and Afghanistan fed the instinct to withdraw and to end the "forever wars." But the folly of these US interventions did not necessarily mean that all use of force to back diplomacy or specific political ends was wrong; rather it meant in these cases, the Bush Administration failed in the most basic task of good statecraft: namely, marrying objectives and means. Nothing more clearly defines effective statecraft than identifying well-considered goals and then knowing how to use all the tools of statecraft--diplomatic, economic, military, intelligence, information, cyber, scientific, education--to achieve them. But all too often American presidents have adopted goals that were poorly defined and not thought through.

In Statecraft 2.0, Dennis Ross explains why failing to marry objectives and means has happened so often in American foreign policy. He uses historical examples to illustrate the factors that account for this, including political pressures, weak understanding of the countries where the US has intervened, changing objectives before achieving those that have been established, relying too much on ourselves and too little on allies and partners. To be fair, there have not only been failures, there have been successes as well. Ross uses case studies to look more closely at the circumstances in which Administrations have succeeded and failed in marrying objectives and means. He distills the lessons from good cases of statecraft--German unification in NATO, the first Gulf War, the surge in Iraq 2007-8--and bad cases of statecraft--going to war in Iraq 2003, and the Obama policy toward Syria. Based on those lessons, he develops a framework for applying today a statecraft approach to our policy toward China, Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The book concludes with how a smart statecraft approach would shape policy toward the new national security challenges of climate, pandemics, and cyber.

Join the Israel Studies Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Hoover Institution for the launch of Peter Berkowitz's new book, Explaining Israel: The Jewish State, the Middle East, and America, at Shultz Auditorium on Wednesday, October 29, from 4:00 - 5:30 PM, followed by a reception from 5:30 - 6:30 PM.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this collection of 40 columns written for RealClearPolitics between 2014 and 2024, Peter Berkowitz explains Israel by reporting events, examining ideas, and placing both in their larger geopolitical context.

The senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution draws on the great Israeli mosaic of people, opinions, and aspirations to illuminate the domestic politics, diplomatic and national security imperatives, and multivalent spirit of the Middle East’s only rights-protecting democracy.

The carefully curated collection of essays in Explaining Israel demonstrates that to understand the Jewish state, it is necessary to appreciate the nation’s accomplishments and setbacks, the sources of its political cohesiveness and the forces dividing it, and the splendid opportunities and grave threats that it confronts.

The essays commence with Israel in 2014 at the height of its prosperity and self-confidence. They explore intensifying schisms inside the country and gathering dangers on its borders and throughout the region. And they culminate in penetrating analyses of the two crises that struck Israel in 2023. In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sweeping judicial reform proposals set off bitter controversy and months of massive protests. Then on October 7, Iran-backed Hamas jihadists invaded Israel, massacred some 1,200 people, and kidnapped around 250, enmeshing Israel in a seven-front war against Iran and its regional proxies.

Berkowitz’s essays clarify the breathtaking achievements, the heartbreak, and the remarkable resilience of a nation struggling valiantly to be Jewish, free, and democratic in a dangerous region crucial to America’s interests.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also a columnist for RealClearPolitics and serves as director of studies for The Public Interest Fellowship. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, executive secretary of the department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, and senior advisor to the secretary of state. Berkowitz is a member of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters and a 2017 recipient of the Bradley Prize. He is the author of Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation; Israel and the Struggle over the International Laws of War; Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism; and Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist. In addition, Berkowitz is the editor of seven collections of essays on political ideas and institutions and has written hundreds of articles, essays, and reviews on a range of subjects for a variety of publications.

The Israel-Syria-Turkey triangle has long been shaped by a mix of historical grievances, shifting alliances, and pressing security concerns. Today, the region faces overlapping crises—from the Syrian conflict and its humanitarian toll, to Israel’s evolving regional posture, to Turkey’s delicate balancing between strategic interests and domestic imperatives. This seminar will examine the dynamics driving relations among the three states, focusing on how unresolved disputes intersect with new opportunities for dialogue and resolution. Particular attention will be given to the fault-lines, the influence of external powers, energy and water security, and the role of regional normalization efforts. The central question remains: can pragmatic cooperation overcome entrenched mistrust, or will the region remain locked in cycles of confrontation? The seminar will outline potential scenarios and policy pathways to navigate this volatile triangle toward greater stability.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kerim Uras graduated from Ankara University, Political Science Faculty, International Relations Department in 1985 and completed his master's degree from Ankara University on Iraq and its Ethnic Structure in 1987. Starting his career in 1985 in the Cyprus Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara, Uras carried out various diplomatic missions abroad, in Germany-Hannover, Cyprus, London, and New York UN, in addition to working at the Cyprus-Greece, Middle East, Europe, and NATO Departments in Capital. He served as Ambassador-designate to Israel while residing in Ankara (due to the Mavi Marmara incident) between 2010 and 2011. Kerim Uras served as Turkish Ambassador to Greece between 2011 and 2016. In Ankara, he served as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Türkiye and as a Member of the Foreign Policy Board from 2016 to 2018. He served as Turkish Ambassador to Canada between 2018 and 2023 and retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kerim Uras has been working as Advisor to the Chairman at Çalık Holding and is Honorary Fellow at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, in NPSIA-MTS as of 2023. He is married with three children. 

Join us for a special webinar marking two years since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent multi-front war in the Middle East. The webinar will examine the impact of the ongoing conflict, assess the major geopolitical shifts that have unfolded in the region in the past two years, and identify scenarios for how the war might end. Featuring Amichai Magen, Visiting Fellow in Israel Studies, in conversation with Nadav Eyal, Senior Columnist at Israel's largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Nadav Eyal is one of Israel's most prominent journalists and a winner of the Sokolov Award — Israel's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. He writes columns for Yediot Ahronot and Ynet. Beginning on October 7, 2023, he has focused his work on the massacres perpetrated in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza and the northern border of Israel. He also serves as a senior commentator for Israel’s Channel 12. Eyal authored the bestseller REVOLT, the Worldwide Uprising Against Globalization. In 2023, Eyal published HOW DEMOCRACY WINS (if it does). Eyal has held senior positions in major Israeli media groups and interviewed Israeli prime ministers and foreign heads of state. He is the chairman of the Movement for Freedom of Information, an Israeli NGO dedicated to promoting transparency and accountability, aiming to foster a more open, democratic, and accountable society. He earned an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (with merit) as a Chevening Scholar and an LL.B. from Hebrew University (magna cum laude). He received the B'nai B'rith World Center Award for Journalism.

Virtual Event Only.