Since its opening in June 2011, the Institute has been the center of the academic study of Israel in Canada. Our faculty and graduate students actively contribute their research insights and results to current debates in the field of Israel Studies, which encompasses diverse disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We also promote scholarly engagement and collaboration between Israel and Canada in other areas, such as Business, Fine Arts, the Sciences, and support our students who wish to partake in various educational and training programs offered by our Israeli partner universities. In 2017, I was proud to start and lead the annual Summer in Jerusalem program in collaboration with the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which has allowed dozens of our students to join me in a one-month intensive sturdy program in Israel. We are hopeful that the program can resume as soon as global travel conditions return to their normal state!
Every year I offer an undergraduate course on the Israeli Political System, which is very popular among our students and is always fully enrolled. In this course, I put the emphasis on the complexity that characterizes the Israeli domestic political system and the interaction between society and the institutions of the state. One of my favorite class activities is the simulation of an Israeli election which culminates in the formation of a new coalition government!
