Center for Democratic Values and Institutions

The Center for Democratic Values and Institutions is dedicated to fortifying the democratic values and institutions of the State of Israel, based on the humanistic foundations of Judaism and the liberal foundations of Zionism. The Center seeks to strengthen the commitment of Israeli policymakers, opinion shapers and decision makers to the fundamental tenets of Israeli democracy, including freedom, equality, civil rights, separation of powers, transparency and the rule of law.

The center works to inform decision makers and the general public about the dangers of populist legislative initiatives, develop sound alternatives, shape policy on education for democracy, ensure a free and independent press, promote a more inclusive society and articulate a common vision for all Israeli citizens.

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    Prof. Suzie Navot

    Vice President, Research

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    Suzie Navot is a full professor of constitutional and parliamentary law and, prior to her appointment, was a member of the faculty of the Striks School of Law at the College of Management Academic Studies. She earned a bachelor's degree in law from Tel Aviv University, an M.A in public policy from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University and holds a doctorate in law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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    Adv. Anat Thon Ashkenazy

    Director

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    Anat Thon-Ashkenazy is an attorney and social activist. In her most recent position as executive director of Itach-Maaki– Women Lawyers for Social Justice- she promoted programs working towards gender equality on the national and municipal levels, with an emphasis on the needs of women from disenfranchised populations.

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    Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer

    Senior Fellow, Democratic Values and Institutions Program and Public Corruption Program

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    Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer is a Senior Fellow at IDI and he previously served as the Institute's Vice President of Research.

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    Prof. Yuval Shany

    Senior Fellow at the Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Among other things, he has researched questions of right to equality, security detention, interrogation techniques, on-line surveillance and content moderation, military investigations, proportionality in the application of force, jurisdiction of international criminal tribunals and counterterrorism.

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    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler

    Head, Democracy in the Digital Age Program; Senior Fellow

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    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and head of the institute’s Media Reform Program and Democracy in the Digital Age Program.

    She holds a doctorate in law (LLD) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed her post-doctoral studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

    She is a board member of the Israel National Press Council, a board member of the Israeli Digital Rights Movement, a board member of the Center for Ethics in Jerusalem and a member of the Supreme Council of Archives of the State of Israel.

    In recent years, Dr. Shwartz Altshuler has composed the journalistic code of ethics for Israel’s public broadcasting corporation (“Kan”) and for the Globes business newspaper; drafted a bill for a new privacy law in Israel; and appeared regularly in the Israeli and international media on issues relating to media, technology, democracy, and human rights. She has also published a number of books, articles, policy studies, and expert opinions on these subjects.

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    Adv. Edna Harel Fisher

    Head, Public Corruption Program

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    Edna Harel Fisher leads policy research at the institute on the topic of funding for culture, ‘Mamlachtiyut’, and freedom of speech.

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    Dr. Tammy Hoffman

    Head, Education Policy Program; Research Fellow

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    Lecturer and the Kibbutzim College of Education; Head of the Regev Education Program for Outstanding Students, and member of the steering committee of the Lautman Forum for Education Policy.

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    Dr. Guy Lurie

    Research Fellow, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Dr. Guy Lurie is an attorney and holds a PhD in History from Georgetown University (2013). He a former coordinator of the Shamgar Commission for the Formulation of Rules of Ethics for Members of the Government, and served as a post-doctoral fellow on the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa.

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    Dr. Fahima Abbas

    Senior Researcher, Arab Society in Israel Program

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    Dr. Abbas received her PhD in Geography from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2016. Her research focuses on the integration of the minority middle class into majority urban spaces, with an emphasis on metropolitan areas and divided cities, spatial inequality, migration, and commuting. As part of her postdoctoral research at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, she examined the participation of the Jerusalem middle class in the Israeli economy. In her recent studies, Dr. Abbas explored access to housing and employment among Palestinian women in Israel, analyzing how residential space, social class, and marital status influence their opportunities for housing and employment.

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    Dr. Rachel Aridor-Hershkovitz

    Senior Researcher, Democracy in the Digital Age Program

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    Senior Researcher in the Democracy in the Digital Age program at the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions at IDI. Holds a Master’s degree in Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law from the NYU School of Law, and a PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa. Her doctoral dissertation examined the most suitable regulatory tools for cybersecurity protection, based on a comparison of regulations in the United States and England, and an in-depth study of the need for public-private sector cooperation and how to achieve it.

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    Dr. Nadav Dagan

    Senior Researcher, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Dr. Dagan Holds a PhD from Bar-Ilan University, LLM with specialism in Public Law and Human Rights Law from University College London (UCL), and LLB from the University of Haifa.

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    Dr. Amir Fuchs

    Senior Researcher, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Dr. Amir Fuchs holds a doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a lecturer in the Politics and Communication Department at the School of Government and Social Sciences at Hadassah Academic College.

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    Adv. Daphne Benvenisty

    Researcher, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Daphne is a researcher at the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions. She holds an LL.B and an LL.M, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has clerked at the Supreme Court in the chambers of Justice Neal Hendel.

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    Dr. Moran Kandelshtein-Haina

    Researcher, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Researcher and lecturer in the fields of public law. Dr. Kandelshtein-Haina holds a doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the Bar-Ilan University and is a lecturer in the school of Law at the Netanya Academic College. The doctoral thesis she wrote dealt with the constitutional status of the prime minister in parliamentary systems. Areas of expertise: institutional constitutional law, administrative law, the Executive.

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    Dr. Muhammed Khalaily

    Researcher, Arab Society in Israel Program

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    Holds a PhD from the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa on the subject: "The role and survival of primordial structures in modern politics: A Neo-Institutional Analysis of Clan Continuity in Arab Politics in Israel."

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    Dr. Natan Milikowsky

    Researcher, Public Corruption Program

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    Dr. Arik Rudnitzky

    Researcher, Arab Society in Israel Program

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    Dr. Rudnitzky has been researching Arab Israeli issues for almost two decades. His fields of expertise cover political, national and social developments in Israel's Arab society; Jewish-Arab relations; and government policies on Arabs in Israel.

    Rudnitzky holds PhD degree from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University, as well as MA (magna cum laude) and BA degrees in Middle Eastern History from the Faculty of Humanities and an MBA degree from the Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University.

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    Adv. Nisreen Abo Asalh

    Research Assistant, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Adv. Abo Asalh completed her Bachelor of Law studies at the University of Haifa in 2020, specialized in the consulting and legislation department (constitutional law) and qualified in 2021 as an attorney. Prior to joining the IDI, Adv. Abo Asalh worked for about two years at the firm of Firon & Co. in the planning and construction department. Today, concurrently with her work at the IDI, Abo Asalh works as an attorney at the office of Yosef Yeshurun & Co.

    In the past, Adv. Abo Asalh established a number of social projects.

    Nisreen Abo Asalh is a master's student in public law at the Tel Aviv - Northwestern program.

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    Meital Baron

    Research Assistant, Education Policy Program

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    Adv. Yael Mittelman

    Research Assistant, Democracy in the Digital Age Program

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    Yael Mittelman earned her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2020. She clerked for the Parliamentary Solicitor General, where she assisted in representing the Knesset in constitutional petitions before the Supreme Court. In 2021, she was admitted to the Israeli Bar. Subsequently, she worked under the head of litigation at a leading law firm. Prior to her legal career, Yael served in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, working with leading media outlets in Israel and worldwide.

    Yael is a research assistant at the Center for Democracy in the Digital Age, specializing in communications and technology regulation, freedom of expression, and journalistic ethics.

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    Adv. Sapir Paz

    Research Assistant, Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Advocate Paz completed her L.L.B (magna cum laude) at the Hebrew University in 2020. She completed her legal internship in the State Attorney's office at the High Court of Justice Department and was licensed as a lawyer in Israel in 2021.
    In 2022, she worked as a law clerk to Judge Eyal Avrahami, the President of the Regional Labor Court in Jerusalem, and later as law clerk to Judge Varda Virt-Livne, the President of the National Labor Court of Israel.
    Sapir is also a Masters student in the Critical Cultural Studies program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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    Adv. Lital Piller

    Research Assistant, Arab Society in Israel Program and Democratic Values and Institutions Program

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    Lital Piller is a second-year research master’s student at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on the representation of the Arab-Palestinian minority in the land administration institutions in Israel. 

    She holds a bachelor’s degree in law and a bachelor’s in government (both with distinction) from Reichman University. Until 2017, she worked as a lawyer in the Administrative Law Department at the Spigelman Koren Zamir & Co. law firm. There, she provided legal advice in the field of administrative law, including local government, tenders, contracts, and litigation in administrative, commercial and civil matters. She was involved in drafting tenders and contracts for clients in the public sector, providing legal opinions, accompanying, and participating in tender committees, and representing clients in legal proceedings in various courts, including administrative courts.

    In addition, she works as a teaching assistant and research assistant in the field of constitutional law, intellectual property, and international law.

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    Maisam Salem

    Research Assistant, Arab Society in Israel Program

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    [email protected]

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    Miriam Awad Morad

    Researcher, Education Policy Program

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