Steering Committee

Mr. Trevor Spiro, Chairman

Mr. Spiro is a successful London-based real estate entrepreneur who heads of the international corporation, the Spiro Group. Together with Dr. David Altman, he co-founded the Center in 2002, and has played an active role in shaping the center's strategy since. Amongst his many charitable activities for Israeli causes, he is an International Representative of the Israeli Air Force Museum at Hatzerim.

Professor Zvi Arad, Founder and President of Netanya Academic College

Professor Arad is a distinguished, world-renowned mathematician who previously served as the Acting President and Rector of Bar Ilan University, before founding Netanya Academic College . Professor Arad led the team that established Netanya Academic College from its outset, and has served in a number of public positions.

Dr. David Altman, Senior Vice President of Development, Netanya Academic College Deputy Chairman of the Center

Dr. Altman, along with Mr. Trevor Spiro, is the co-founder of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue. Prior to his current position as Senior Vice President for Development at Netanya Academic College , Dr. Altman served as the Director General of the Tel Aviv Foundation, the Director General and Vice President of Bar Ilan University, and the Academic Assistant to General Moshe Dayan.

Professor Joseph Ginat, Vice President of International Relations and Research, Netanya Academic College Director of the Center

Professor Ginat, the director of the Center, is an internationally acclaimed cultural-political anthropologist. He served as an advisor on Arab issues to a number of Israeli Prime Ministers and ministers. He served as Director of the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo, Egypt and served as director of the Jewish-Arab Center at Haifa University . Prof. Ginat's researches the various ethnic groups among Arabs in the land of Israel and Arabs of other Middle Eastern countries and primarily focuses on attempts to advance the peace process. Prof. Ginat has published and edited 13 books and dozens of articles.

Professor Moshe Maoz, Senior Deputy Director of Academic Research

Professor Moshe Maoz is a world-renowned professor of Middle East history. He is lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is head of the Middle East Department at Netanya Academic College . Prof. Maoz has served as the Director of the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace and has chaired or directed a number of other distinguished research institutes. He has served as the assistant advisor on Arab affairs to Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and as an advisor on Arab-Israeli relations to Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Prof. Maoz has written or edited 19 books and has published numerous articles.

Dr. Reuven Pedatzur, Academic Director of the Center

Dr. Pedatzur is a senior military affairs analyst with the Israeli Haaretz daily newspaper. He serves as a senior lecturer of Political Science at Tel Aviv University and at Netanya Academic College . Dr. Pedatzur is a former fighter pilot in the Israel Air Forces and works as a commercial pilot for Arkia Airlines. His areas of research include missile defense, nuclear and other non-conventional weapons, the IDF’s strategic doctrine, and various aspects of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. He served as a visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic Studies at MIT in 1993 and 1994. Dr. Pedatzur has authored four books and numerous academic articles.

General (ret.) Baruch Spiegel, Advisor to the Directory Board

For the last number of years, General (ret.) Baruch Spiegel served as the senior advisor to the Minister of Defense. In this role, General Spiegel has been responsible for security agreements between Israel and the United States , the European Union, the United Nations and other international organizations. He has directed several special projects at the Defense Ministry, including monitoring the effects of the security fence, determining security and humanitarian policy at crossings and passages, and examining the implementation of the Israeli commitments regarding settlements, outposts, and checkpoints in the West Bank. When serving in the IDF, General Spiegel served as the Head of the IDF Liaison Unit responsible for security relations between Israeli and Arab forces and for relations with peacekeeping force. In addition, he took a leading role in the negotiations and implementation of the Israel-Jordan Peace Accords.

Ms. Aviva Palter, Head of International Activities & Conference Director

Ms. Palter, an experienced conference organizer, has organized numerous international conferences since 1966. Previously she served as the editor of the newsletter and as a steering committee member of the Middle East Career Woman Forum from 1992 to 1996, and as a Director and Head of Financial committee of Etgarim, the Israeli sports association for the disabled from 1994 to 2000. Ms. Palter has worked at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue since its establishment, and has organized the Center’s conferences from the outset.

Mr. Dov Ben Meir, International Advisor on Israel-German Relations

Mr. Ben Meir was one of the founders of Kibbutz “Ma’ayan Baruch” (March 11 1947), in the Upper Galilee. Between 1954 and 1962 he was the director of the “Publications and Training Service” in the Prime-Minister’s office. In 1962  he took upon himself to establish and activate “The Israeli Cancer Association”, which became since the leading and greatest Israeli voluntary organization. In 1966 he was elected as the chairman of the Israeli Fundraisers Association. Mr. Ben Meir's political career includes posts as the Chairman of the Labor Party in Tel-Aviv, Chairman of the Labor Council (the Histadrut) in Tel-Aviv, Vice Speaker of the Knesset, First Deputy Mayor of Tel-Aviv, and Chairman of the Israeli-German Parliamentary Group and the Municipal Lobby. Mr. Ben Meir has published a number of economic and social articles throughout his career.

Ambassador Yitzhak Mayer, Senior Advisor

Ambassador Yitzhak Mayer has joined the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue, as Senior Advisor, concentrating on Foreign Relations. Ambassador Mayer, an experienced educator at all levels, served as lecturer of the Jewish Agency Executive Committee and its board of governors for Jewish education worldwide. Ambassador Mayer was nominated as Israeli Ambassador to Brussels, Belgium in 1991 and as Ambassador to Bern Switzerland in 1997. Prior to that, he served as Consul General of Israel in Montreal and Eastern Canada. Ambassador Mayer has published a number of plays, poems and articles that have appeared in books, periodicals, and newspapers. Ambassador Mayer is a regular contributor to radio and television programs. He is a member of a variety of public organizations dealing with education and dialogue.

Ambassador Alon Pinkas, North American Advisor

Ambassador Pinkas served as the Consul General of Israel in New York , under the rank of Ambassador from 2000-2004. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff to Israeli Foreign Ministers Shlomo Ben-Ami and David Levy. Ambassador Pinkas also served as Advisor to Prime Minister Barak on U.S. affairs, and Policy Advisor to the Foreign Minister, at the time Shimon Peres. Ambassador Pinkas’s background is journalism, as he served as a columnist of the Davar Hebrew daily, chief military correspondent of the Maariv Hebrew daily and of the Jerusalem Post English daily, and has contributed regularly to FOX News. Ambassador Pinkas currently serves as Director of the Bagir Board of Directors has also served as an advisor to a number of investment and venture capital groups.

Mr. Elie Friedman, Coordinator

Mr. Friedman, the coordinator of the Center, previously worked in the fields of technical and marketing communications in a number of Israeli Hi-tech companies. He has also served as a freelance journalist for Israeli newspapers including the Jerusalem Post and the English version of Haaretz. He is the editor and manager of a creative writing Web site, and has had creative writing pieces published in a number of journals.