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Study Group
MEI Study Group: The United States and Israel: Past, Present, and Future of a Defining Relationship
Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students
This Middle East Initiative Study Group will examine the political, social, and strategic evolution of the U.S.–Israel relationship and its implications for American foreign policy, domestic politics, Jewish identity, and regional peace and stability.
Applications to attend are due September 20 - read on for more details.
This five-session study group will examine the political, social, and strategic evolution of the U.S.–Israel relationship and its implications for American foreign policy, domestic politics, Jewish identity, and regional peace and stability. Beginning with the Balfour Declaration and continuing through the Obama administration, the group will establish a historical foundation before turning to the two major American communities that helped shape the relationship: American Jews and Evangelical Christians. It will then examine the post–October 7 period, assess the relationship’s current condition, and consider competing paths forward.
Through primary documents, diplomatic history, current analysis, guest-expert conversations, and structured policy deliberation, participants will move from understanding the relationship to developing and defending their own evidence-based positions. The central analytical lens throughout will be American interests, considered both domestically and internationally, alongside the prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East.
Participation
The Study Group will be open by application for up to 30 Harvard students and fellows.
Selected participants will be expected to attend all sessions and engage actively in the deliberations.
This study group will take place over five sessions on Wednesdays, 4:30pm-6:00pm:
September 30
October 14
November 4
November 18
December 2
About the Instructor
Barak Sella is a Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, and the project lead of MEI's Israel Program. His research explores U.S.-Israel relations, the evolving relationship between American Jews and Zionism, and the role of civil society in strengthening people-to-people relations between Jewish and Muslim communities across the United States and the Middle East. He holds an M.A. in American Jewish Studies from Haifa University, and a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.
