List of Contributing Researchers

Cyclone - Journal for Policy and Strategic Affairs | Vol.1, 2021

Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilead

General Amos Gilead is the executive director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at the IDC, Herzliya, and chairman of the IDC’s Annual Herzliya Conference Series. He is also a faculty member at the IDC Herzliya's Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy. Among his many senior positions in the defense establishment, General Gilead was Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Ministry of Defense, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Chief of the Israel Defense Intelligence Research and Analysis Division, IDF Spokesperson, and the Military Secretary (Aide de Camp) to the late Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Yitzhak Rabin. Over the years, he has played a key role in developing Israel’s defense relations with the Arab world, and forming Israel's strategic alliances with senior elements in the international theater. General Gilead has been taking part in a series of negotiations with the Palestinians since the early 1990s, heading the Israeli team of the military affairs working group in the negotiations following the Annapolis Peace Conference with the Palestinian Authority in 2008. He was decorated with the U.S. Legion of Merit, and awarded the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Director's Award. Warning Lights: Secret Talks with Amos Gilead is a biography by Shimon Shiffer published in 2019.

Dr. Michael Milshtein

Dr. Michael Milshtein is an Expert on the Palestinian issue. He heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and is a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at IDC Herzliya. He is a Colonel (res.). Dr. Milshtein is a former advisor on Palestinian affairs to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), and headed the Department for Palestinians Affairs in the Israel Defense Intelligence. He has published three books and dozens of articles on the Palestinian issue as well as Israeli Arab society, strategic developments in the Middle East, Israel's defense challenges, and modern intelligence. Two more books Dr. Milshtein has authored will be published in 2021: a study on the younger generation in the Palestinian system, and a lexicon of key senior Palestinian officials. He is currently involved in several public projects centering on Israeli Arab society, and is heading legislative endeavors on teaching Arabic in Israel.

Ksenia Svetlova

Ksenia Svetlova is a senior researcher at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at IDC Herzliya. She was a Knesset member between 2015 and 2019 with the Zionist Union, serving as a member of the Foreign affairs and Defense committee, as well as the Aliya and Integration committee. Ms. Svetlova initiated and led several parliamentary lobbies, among them the Israel-Kurdish alliance. Prior to being elected to the Knesset, she served as senior analyst and reporter on Arab affairs on Channel 9 (Israel), interviewing many key position holders in the Middle East, and covering historical developments in the region. Ms. Svetlova has an MA in the history of the Middle East from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and is currently completing her PhD on Israel in the Egyptian media. Her book, Through the Middle East on High Heels was published in 2020.

Udi Evental

Col (res.) Udi Evental is a senior researcher at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at IDC Herzliya. While in uniform Colonel Evental formerly headed the Strategic Planning Unit at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, was a former assistant to the military secretary of the prime minister, and an intelligence attaché in Washington. He headed the U.S. and International desk in the IDF Planning Directorate, as well as the strategic arena at the Israel Defense Intelligence Research and Analysis Division. Colonel Evental is an expert on policy planning – an area he has been teaching at the IDC, Herzliya – as well as on strategy and military diplomacy. He holds an M.A. in the history of the Middle East and Islamic culture from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), Paris.

Dr. Moshe Albo

Dr. Moshe Albo is an expert on modern Middle-Eastern history, particularly Egypt's. He is a senior researcher at the Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies, and a Lieutenant General (res.). Dr. Albo headed a unit at the Israel Defense Intelligence Research and Analysis Division, and was the chief liaison officer to Egypt in the IDF Planning Division. He has published several papers on matters of religion, society, and politics in modern-day Egypt.

Dr. Yoel Guzansky

Dr. Yoel Guzansky is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University. He served on Israel's National Security Council in the Prime Minister's Office, coordinating the work on Iran and the Gulf, and was also a former consultant in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Ministry of Intelligence Affairs. His research focuses on the security, politics, and economics of the Gulf states, strategic trends in the Middle East, and nuclear proliferation. Dr. Guzansky was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, an Israel Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, and a Fulbright Scholar. He cowrote and coedited 11 books and monographs, as well as some one hundred academic articles and chapters in edited volumes. His most recent book, Fraternal Enemies: Israel and the Gulf Monarchies, co-authored with Prof. Clive Jones, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020.

Michael Segall

Michael Segall is an expert on Iran. He is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) at the IDC, Herzliya. Segall is Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Acumen Risk, and a Lieutenant Colonel (res.). Mr. Segall headed a unit at the Israel Defense Intelligence Research and Analysis Division. He has authored dozens of papers on strategic trends in the Middle East in general and Iran in particular.

Dr. Nir Boms

Dr. Nir Boms is the Chairman of the Syria Research Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and the coordinator of the TAU International Workshop on Israel and the Middle East. He is a member of the board of the Israeli Council on Foreign Relations, and a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) at the IDC, Herzliya. Dr. Boms served as the Vice President of the Washington based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), and as the Academic Affairs Liaison at Israel’s Embassy in Washington, DC. His 2016 book, Expat-ing Democracy focuses on the influence of Expat communities on democracy discourse in the Middle East. His recent book, The Syrian War: Between Justice and Political Reality is an edited volume on the war that has been raging in Syria for the past decade.

Stephane Cohen

Mr. Stephane Cohen is an expert on national security, specializing in Israel's northern borders. He explores his interest in this area both as a military liaison officer in reserves and an academic researcher. His fields of interest include Middle East ancient history, archaeology, philosophy, and national security.