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Elie Podeh

Elie Podeh is an Israeli scholar of the Middle East and a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

born 1959Research on inter-Arab relationsStudies of Israeli history textbooksMissed opportunities in Israeli-Arab conflict

Born: 27 June 1959, Tel Aviv
Occupation: orientalist, university teacher
Education: Tel Aviv University

Elie Podeh was born in 1959 in Tel Aviv

Elie Podeh was born in Tel Aviv on June 27, 1959, to parents who survived the Holocaust. He attended Ironi Hey high school in Tel Aviv, in its Middle East studies track.

He served in the IDF in Unit 8200 from 1977 to 1986. He earned all three of his degrees at Tel Aviv University, writing his master's thesis on Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian problem. His doctorate, completed in 1991, dealt with the struggle for hegemony in the Arab world around the Baghdad Pact, and he then did postdoctoral work at Cornell University.

At the Hebrew University he headed the department from 2004 to 2009. His research covers Egypt, inter-Arab relations, Israeli-Arab relations, and education and culture in the Arab world. He has written on the union of Egypt and Syria, on Nasserism, on how Israeli textbooks taught about Arabs, and on missed opportunities for peace.

He edited the journal Hamizrah Hehadash from 2000 to 2008 and has led the Israeli Middle East and Islamic Studies Association since July 2016. He sits on the board of the Mitvim institute, is active in Israeli Peace Initiative, and writes opinion columns in Haaretz. He is a father of 3 and an amateur photographer.

Elie Podeh's life in 6 milestones

1959
Born in Tel Aviv.
1977
Began service in Unit 8200.
1991
Completed his doctorate at Tel Aviv University.
2000
Became editor of the journal Hamizrah Hehadash.
2004
Became head of his department at the Hebrew University.
2016
Became president of the Israeli Middle East and Islamic Studies Association.