Sima Shine is a senior research fellow at INSS. Prior to that, she served as deputy director general at the Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, where she was responsible for the Iranian file (2009-2015). In this framework she was heavily involved in the diplomatic contacts in recent years on the Iranian issue. Sima also served as deputy head of the National Security Council for Strategic Affairs (2008-2009), as well as head of research at the Intelligence Division of the Mossad (2003-2007).
Ezra Friedman is a project manager at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a nonpartisan, foreign policy think tank in Tel Aviv, Israel. He holds a BA in Governmental Studies from IDC Herzliya in Israel, and specializes in global affairs, conflict resolution, counter-terrorism, and homeland security.
Our Voice of the Fortnight is from the Times of Israel's 'Wartime Diaries' podcast. In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, Shai Davidai – an Assistant Professor at Columbia University – became an unlikely public defender of Israel. And truthfully, even he was surprised by this turn of events: As a committed left-wing Israeli, he had spent years criticizing the government, and often took to the streets to demonstrate against its policies. But the atmosphere he witnessed on college campuses (and specifically on his own campus at Columbia), compelled him to speak up and speak out.