Current Developments in Israel

Current Developments in Israel

12pm PDT

Join Ronen Bergman, award-winning Israeli investigative journalist, and leading authority on the Mossad and Israeli intelligence, in conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Herbst, AJU President, as they discuss current developments in Israel. 

Dr. Jeffrey Herbst is the fourth president of American Jewish University. Prior to joining AJU, Dr. Herbst was president and CEO of the Newseum and the Newseum Institute in Washington, DC. From 2010 to 2015, he was president of Colgate University, where among other accomplishments he is credited with helping the university complete its nearly half billion-dollar fundraising campaign, leading the development and initial implementation of a university-wide strategic plan, and increasing the diversity and academic caliber of its educational programming. Additionally, Dr. Herbst was a Senior Fellow at the Brenthurst Foundation, was a two-time Fulbright Scholar, and is currently a trustee of Freedom House. He has also served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and as professor of political science at Miami University in Ohio, and taught at Princeton University for almost two decades. Dr. Herbst earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in political science from Yale University. He is the author of the award-winning “States and Power in Africa” and, with several co-authors, the just-published “Making Africa Work.” In addition to many books and articles, he has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many other digital and print publications around the world. UCLA School of Law.

Ronen Bergman is an award-winning Israeli investigative journalist, historian, lawyer and a New York Times bestselling author. He is recognized as a leading authority on the Mossad and Israeli intelligence, featuring a remarkable network of sources inside Israeli intelligence organizations. Bergman is both a staff writer with The New York Times and the long-serving senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs with Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest daily paid newspaper. Known for dramatic stories and sensational scoops, Bergman was recently awarded the Sokolow Prize, Israel’s most esteemed award for journalism - the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. Bergman is also the author of six bestselling books, the most recent of which is the New York Times bestseller "Rise and Kill First" – a history of Israeli intelligence and the use of targeted assassination. Bergman wrote the book over eight years, conducting over one-thousand interviews with senior Israeli intelligence and military officials, and political leaders, and reviewing thousands of pages of intelligence documents. Released in January 2018, "Rise and Kill First" instantly hit The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and Der Spiegel list in Germany. "Rise and Kill First" received rave reviews, including from The New York Times book review, which said it has “stories that would make Jason Bourne sit up and say Wow!” The book was included in the New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2018 and 100 Notable Books of 2018 lists, and won the National Jewish Book Award for History. HBO are creating a dramatic series based on the book.