Democracy under Stress: Shared Values and Common Challenges

Wednesday, May 29

9:00 | Opening breakfast

10:00 | Welcome and introduction

Yohanan Plesner, Israel Democracy Institute

Natan Sachs, Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution

10:30-12:00 | Keynote conversation

Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee, United States Congress

Moderator: Natan Sachs, The Brookings Institution

12:00-12:30 | Coffee Break

12:30-14:00 | What just happened? The drivers of global populism and the challenges of democratic erosion

Bill Galston, The Brookings Institution

Tamar Hermann, Israel Democracy Institute

Nitzan Horowitz, Internationl Affaires Commentator; Chairperson of Israel Hofsheet movement

Yotam Margalit, Israel Democracy Institute

Moderator: Jesse Ferris, Israel Democracy Institute

14:00-15:00 | Lunch

15:00-16:30 | Social media, influence, and the politics

Tehilla Altshuler, Israel Democracy Institute

Jordana Cutler, Facebook

Lior Horev, Strategic Consultant and an expert on Public Perception

Shaul Olmert, Playbuzz

Moderator: Dana Weiss, Channel 12 News

16:30-16:45 | Coffee Break

16:45-18:15 | “Enemy of the People”? The media’s role in democratic decline

Eytan Avriel, TheMarker  

Boaz Bismuth, Israel HaYom

Susan Glasser, The New Yorker

Meirav Michaeli, Former Member of Knesset, Labor Party

Moderator: Alona Vinograd, Israel Democracy Institute

Thursday, May 30

9:00-9:30 | Breakfast

9:30-11:00 | New nationalism, the nation-state, and identity politics

Mohammad Darawshe, Givat Haviva

Constanze Stelzenmüller, The Brookings Institution

Yedidia Stern, Israel Democracy Institute

Gadi Taub, The Hebrew University

Moderator: Natan Sachs, The Brookings Institution

11:00-11:15 | Coffee Break

11:15-13:00 | Judicial independence and/or popular rule                                                        

The Honorable Dorit Beinisch, Supreme Court of Israel (ret.)

Yoav Dotan, The Hebrew University

Hassan Jabareen, Adalah

Benjamin Wittes, The Brookings Institution

Moderator: Ido Baum, TheMarker

13:00-14:00 | Lunch

14:00-15:30 | Executive Power and the popular mandate

Rebecca Brocato, National Security Action

Edna Harel Fisher, Israel Democracy Institute

Emi Palmor, Ministry of Justice, State of Israel

Ayman Odeh, Member of Knesset, Hadash - Ta'al Party   

Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, INSS

Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich, The Brookings Institution and Israel Institute

Moderator: Tamara Cofman Wittes, The Brookings Institution

15:30-15:45 | Coffee Break 

15:45-17:15 | The toolkit of populist rule: A global perspective

Toby Greene, Queen Mary University, London

Arad Nir, Channel 12 News

Dahlia Scheindlin, Mitvim Institute

Ahmad Tibi, Member of Knesset, Hadash - Ta'al Party

Yuval Shany, Israel Democracy Institute

Tamara Cofman Wittes, The Brookings Institution

Moderator: Yael Sternhell, Tel Aviv University

17:15-17:30 | Closing Remarks

Yuval Shany, Israel Democracy Institute

Natan Sachs, The Brookings Institution

Alona Vinograd, Israel Democracy Institute