February 27, 2009
Avi was born in Jerusalem in 1960, son to an old Sephardic Jerusalemite family. After the army, where he served in an a combating intelligence unit, Avi earned his B.A. in History and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and later graduated the International Program for Conflict Resolution at The Leonard Davies Institute at George Mason University. In addition, he is a graduate of the Program for Outstanding Leadership of the Carmel Institute for Military Research and a graduate of the Israeli Forum a lay leadership program sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel.
After finishing his formal education, Mr. Melamed continued to work in the intelligence and counterterrorism arena in the West Bank. At the age of 30 he was appointed, the youngest-ever Deputy and later Senior Advisor on Jerusalemite Arab Affairs to Mayor Teddy Kollek and to his successor, Mayor Ehud Olmert.
After leaving the government, Avi entered the private sector where he founded Mikdam, a strategic consulting company on Arab affairs. Believing he was an educator at heart, Avi then left the private sector to go teach High School, where he taught Arabic, Holocaust Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and History, among other subjects for seven years.
During his tenure as a teacher, Avi began to believe that educators, once the moral compass for the State of Israel, were the ones to lead the country through the difficult times it was facing and counter the ever-growing leadership crisis which was threatening the fabric of Israeli society. This passion and commitment led him to found IDAN a non-profit grassroots initiative whose goal is to encourage and empower educators to confront the leadership crisis Israeli society is threatened by.
Avi is a sought-after lecturer in Israel and abroad and his broad and varied experience from intelligence to counterterrorism to Arab and Middle East affairs to entrepreneurship, education, leadership development and social action, coupled with his charisma and intelligence make every encounter fascinating and his geo-strategic analysis captivating.
Avi works as lecturer to a plethora of organizations including The World Bank Board of Directors, CIC (Canada Israel Committee), Herzeliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Israel Border Police Senior Command, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Israel Project, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jerusalem Foundation, The Ministry of Defense, The Peres Center for Peace, United Jewish Communities - USA and Israel, , YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and more.
Avi will be available to speak on campuses from March 5 through April 8.
About Avi Melamed's lecture tour:
Israel and the Middle East: A Geopolitical Perspective
This lecture tour, Israel and the Middle East: A Geopolitical Perspective, focuses on the current geopolitical environment of Israel and the Middle East, the domestic and international forces influencing the region, and their impact at the local, regional and global level. I can work with you to structure the lecture to emphasize any of the topics on which you would like to focus.
- The Character and Consensus of Israeli Society: Israel confronts an ever growing inventory of challenges - internal and external. What are the deep undercurrents that form the face and opinion of Israeli society today and how is this impacted by, and impact, the political climate and policy?
- Radical Islam - Character Analysis and Predictions: The Shiite - Sunni divide defines many of the challenges the Middle East faces today. How does the relationship between the Sunni Radical Islamic forces (Al Qaida, Global Jihad, Hamas) and the Shiite ones (Iran, Hezbollah) and the region’s current ruling political system affect the region’s politics and global security?
- Internal and External Security Challenges: Stability in the Middle East is impossible without internal and external security. One of Israel’s most profound challenges is the ever- changing character of the military threats and security challenges that face Israelis and Jews at home and abroad - global terrorism, suicide bombers, the ongoing Palestinian conflict, external threats from Iran and its potential to acquire nuclear weapons. How will the new Israeli government (elections are currently scheduled for February 2009) address these issues, where is Israel’s place in the war against terror, and what is Israel’s perception of the new U.S. administration?
To book a lecture with Avi Melamed please contact him at:
Email: avi.yanshuf@gmail.com
Phone: (Israel) 011-972-505-409-905