The Trump Administration’s Changing Approach to the Middle East and Its Impact on the Prospects for Peace and Conflict in the Region: An American and Israeli View

ABOUT

Tzipi Livni was first elected to Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, in 1999 and has since held numerous ministerial positions including: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Prime minister (the first woman to hold this position since Golda Meir), Minister of Justice, Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Agriculture, Leader of the opposition, Leader of Center Party Kadima (the biggest party in the parliament) and leader of Hatnua Party.

In addition, Ms. Livni was the chief negotiator in the last two rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and is the most prominent Israeli leader promoting peace based on the vision of two states for two peoples as a means of keeping the values of Israel as a Jewish-Democratic state. She has also served as a member of the Israeli National Security Cabinet and the Senior Security Cabinet during the Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah and initiated Security Council resolutions that enabled the war to come to an end. She was a member of the Security Cabinet during military operations against Hamas in Gaza, and was a member of the Security “Trio” that decided to attack the Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.

Prior to her political career, Ms. Livni served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where she graduated from officer course with distinction, obtaining the rank of First Lieutenant and serving as platoon commander in Officers School. She also served in the Mossad, including an operational course and a one-year mission in Paris. After graduating from Bar Ilan Law School, Ms. Livni practiced law in her law firm, specializing in commercial, constitutional, and real-estate law. She then served as director general of the government-owned Companies Authority, one of only a few women at that time to have held this high governmental position. In this capacity, she advanced changes in Israel’s economy through opening up markets for competition and privatizing government-owned enterprises.

Ms. Livni is currently a board member of International Crisis Group (ICG), a member of The Aspen Ministers Forum and a member of the international group of leaders who wrote the Declaration of Principles for Freedom Prosperity and Peace - an Atlantic council bipartisan initiative for democracy. 

She is known for her integrity in politics and was granted the Quality of Governance Award for her unique contribution to reinforcing the rule of law and protecting the principles of democracy, as well as for her contribution to the quality of immigrant absorption in Israel. In 2007, Ms. Livni was recognized by Time magazine as one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. Ms. Livni is married to Naftali and is a mother of two sons.

Robert M. Danin is a non-resident senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project. He is also a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to joining CFR, he headed the Jerusalem mission of the Quartet representative, Tony Blair, from April 2008 until August 2010. A former career State Department official with over twenty years of Middle East experience, Dr. Danin previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs with responsibilities for Israeli-Palestinian issues and Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. He also served at the National Security Council for over three years, first as Director for Israeli-Palestinian affairs and the Levant and then as acting Senior Director for Near East and North African affairs. A recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award, Dr. Danin served as a Middle East and Gulf specialist on the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, and as a State Department senior Middle East political and military analyst. Prior to joining the State Department, he worked as a Jerusalem-based journalist covering Israeli and Palestinian politics. He has served as a thought leader for the World Economic Forum since 2012.

Dr. Danin has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Financial Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The Atlantic. His commentary has also been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and TIME; and has been a frequent guest on a wide range of television and broadcast media, including the PBS Newshour, Charlie Rose, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, NPR, as well as Turkish, Arabic, and Israeli television and radio. He is a contributing author of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan 2012), and  Iran: The Nuclear Challenge (CFR, 2012).

Dr. Danin holds a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley, an MSFS degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and a doctorate in the international relations of the Middle East from St. Antony's College, Oxford University.