EDUCATION:
1984 - 91: Ph.D Harvard University.
Dissertation Topic: "The Shiʻi ʻUlama' of Najaf and Karbala', 1793-1904: A Socio-political Analysis" Supervisors: Professors Roy Mottahedeh and Abbas Amanat.
1983 - 84: Tel Aviv University. Studies for M.A.
1979 - 83: B.A. Tel Aviv University
History of the Middle East. Graduated Summa Cum Laude
EXPERIENCE:
2018 - 2020 Chair, Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University.
2010 - 2019 Director, Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University.
2008 - Associate Professor, the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University.
2006 - 2010 Senior Research Fellow, Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University.
2005 Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1998 - Senior Research Fellow, the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.
1998 - 2008 Senior lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern and African history, Tel Aviv University.
2003 Visiting assistant professor at the Department of History, Emory University
1997 Visiting assistant professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University.
1994 - 95 Visiting assistant professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University.
1993 - 98 Research Fellow at the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African
Studies, Tel Aviv University.
Lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern and African History,
Tel Aviv University.
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2016 - 2019 Israel Science Foundation, research grant.
2010 Gold Prize, The Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy Book Award.
2008 - 2010 Israel Science Foundation, research grant.
1999 Second Place: The Kuwaiti-British Friendship Society Annual Award for books published in Britain on the Middle East
1997 The Tammi Steinmetz Institute for Peace Research, Tel Aviv University, Research Grant: "Facilitators and Obstacles for the Peace Process."
1992 Tel Aviv University: Seminar for Comparative European History Fellowship.
1989: Dayan Fellowship: the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
1987: Dayan Fellowship: the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
1986: Avi Fellowship, Avi Foundation for Research, Zurich Switzerland.
1984: Fulbright Fellowship: Ameircan-Israeli Education Foundation.
1984: Landau Prize for Research: Israeli Ministry of Education.
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
“Islamic Nationalism in Iran,” in the Iranian Revolution at 40, Tel Aviv University, June 2-3, 2019.
"The Jews as Enemies of Schi'ism and Iran: New Trends in Iranian Antisemitism" in And End to Antisemtisim, University of Vienna, February 18-22, 2018.
“Liberal and Reformist Notions of Liberty in the Iranian Religious Establishment” in Rethinking Islam at the Turn of the 21st Century: Liberal Trends, Agents of Change and Reassessments of Islamic Traditions at Ben Gurion University, 5-7 June 2017.
"Modern Islamist Anti-Semitism," in Islam and Anti-Semitism conference at the Institut für Judaistik University of Vienna, 6-8 November 2016.
"Iranian Shiʻi Responses to the Salafi-Jihadi Challenge: From Rapprochement to Takfir," in the Eleventh Biennial Iranian Studies Conference, Vienna 2-5 August 2016.
"Iran and Saudi Arabia: Strategic and Religious Rivalry" in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, and the New Regional Landscape, at Bar-Ilan University and the University of Haifa June 21-22, 2016.
"Merchants, Trade and Politics in Isfahan of the Late Qajar Iran," in Merchants, Bankers and Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Beyond, Haifa: May 17, 2016.
Iran-Syria Pact and its Impact on the Middle east and the Belt & Road Initiative," in Current Situation in the Middle East and the Build-up of the Belt & Road Initiative Conference, North-West University, Xian China: May 7-8, 2016.
"Islam and Palestinian Nationalism: From Mobilization to Identity" in: The American Historical Association Annual Conference, presidential panel: Religion and Secularism in Nationalist Politics in the 20th Century, Atlanta: January 7-10, 2016.
"Shii Responses to the Salafi Challenge," in World Summit on Counter-Terrorism Shifting Sands of Terrorism - ICT’s 15th Annual International Conference September 7-10, 2015, Herzliya, Israel.
"The Decline of the West in Contemporary Iranian Discourse," in "Iran and the West: Converging Perspectives," Warwick University July 1-3, 2015. Submitted a Hebrew version of the paper at the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel, May 14, 2015.
"Rouhani's Iran: How Real is the Change?" Keynote Address in the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Seventh Annual Conference, Washington DC, October 30 - November 1, 2014.
"The Sunni-Shi`i Rift and the Arab Upheaval" in “U.S.-China-Israel Trilateral Roundtable: Shared Interests in Promoting Stability and Coexistence in the Middle East,” Brookings Institution and Israel Institute, Washington DC, February 2014.
"Nationalism and Islam in a Provincial Setting: Late Qajar Isfahan," in Constructing Nationalism in Iran: From the Qajars to the Islamic Republic, Tel Aviv University, 10-12 June 2013.
"Martyrdom in Shi`i Islam" in With God in Our Side: Holy War and Sacred Struggle in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Tel Aviv University, 2-4 June 2013.
“Israel and the Arab Upheaval," in The Middle East Unfolding: Dreams and Drama in the Early Twenty-First Century, Otago University, Foreign Policy School, 22-24 June 2012.
"Martyrdom is Bliss: Martyrdom in Shi’i Discourse under the Islamic Republic of Iran," in Sacrifice and Death in Modern Islam: History, Ethos and Politics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 11-13 June 2012.
"Antisemitism in Iran and Holocaust Denial," in Antisemitism and the phenomenon of Holocaust denial, Dublin: Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, 17-19 November 2010.
"Iranian anti-Semitism: Continuities and Changes," in "Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity," Yale University: the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, 23-25 August 2010.
"Freedom in Shi`i Thought: From Khomeini to Khatemi," in Shi`ism: Theology, Law and Culture," Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, June 2010.
"History, Nationalism and Religion in the Palestinian National Movement," in Judaism, Islam and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ben Gurion University, May 2010.
"Violence in Radical Islam: Text or Context?," in World Congress of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, August 2009.
"From 'Gharbzedegi' to the 'Fall of the West' in Iranian Religious Thought." In The Iranian Revolution: Thirty Years After, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv University, June 2009.
"Anti-Semitism in the Islamic Republic of Iran," in Understanding the Challenge of Iran Conference, Yale University, May 2008.
"Shi`i and Sunni `Ulama in Ottoman Iraq," at the joint international workshop of the Dayan Center and the Center for Iranian Studies on the Sunni-Shi`i Divide in History, Tel Aviv University, June 2007.
"Concepts of freedom in modern Shi`i thought," in Modern Iran: Religious Thought and Society, Tel Aviv University, June 2006.
"Anti-Shi`i Polemics in Modern Salafi Literature," in ''Exclusivity and Universality in Shi'i Islam'' Hebrew University of Jerusalem, February 2006.
"The Canaanite Past in Palestinian collective memory" at the the Hebrew University Institute of Advanced Studies seminar on religion and nationalism, December 2005.
"Holocaust Denial in the Arab World: Motifs and Developments," The Meeting of Generation: The Formation of the Holocaust Memory in the 21st Century, Haifa University, April 2004.
“Iran and the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism,” in Convergence and Divergence: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective, Tauber Institute at Brandeis University, March 2004.
"Ghettoes and Judenratts in Arab Eyes" in The Warsaw Ghetto Rebellion: The Past Touches the Present, Haifa University, April 2003.
“Modern Islamist Concepts of Freedom,” in The Israeli Democracy Institute Conference on Political Theology, Jerusalem, Israel, March 2003.
“Islamic Democracy and Western Democracy: The Islamist Debate,” in Middle Eastern Societies and the West: Accommodation or Clash of Civilizations, Tel Aviv University, December 2002.
“The Representation of the Holocaust in the Arab World” After Eichmann: Collective Memory and the Holocaust since 1961, University of Southampton, UK, April 2002.
“Democracy or Velayat-e Faqih: The Clerical Debate in Contemporary Iran” in the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference, University of Edinburgh June 2001.
“Madrasa and Learning in Nineteenth Century Najaf and Karbala,” in Twelver Shi`ism in Modern Times, Albert-Ludwig University, Freiburg, October 1999.
“Israeli Constructions of Palestinian Identity,” The Study of the Middle East in Israel, The Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem June 1999.
“A Failed Manipulation? The British, the Oudh Bequest and the Shi` `Ulama’ of Najaf and Karbala’,” Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America Annual Conference, December 1998.
"The Islamization of Palestinian Identity: the Case of Hamas," State and Radical Movements in the Middle East, University of Haifa, May 1996.
"Hamas: The Logic of Terrorism," in Between Jihad and Peace: Islamic Movements and the Peace Process, Tel Aviv University, March 1996.
"The PLO and Local Leadership in the Territories: an Historical and Comparative Analysis," in "The PLO and Israel, 1964-1994: From Armed Struggle to Accommodation" The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 1994.
