Eyal Zisser

Eyal Zisser was born in 1960 in Haifa

Eyal Zisser was born in Haifa on April 3, 1960, and grew up there. He studied in the Oriental studies track at the Hebrew Reali School.

He served in Unit 8200 of the Intelligence Corps. He earned most of his degrees at Tel Aviv University, studying Middle Eastern history and Arabic. His doctorate, supervised by Itamar Rabinovich, dealt with Lebanon under Bishara al-Khoury and was completed in 1992.

After his doctorate he became a lecturer at Tel Aviv University and a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center, which he later headed. In 1996 he was a visiting professor at Cornell University. He was dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 2010 to 2015 and vice rector from 2015 to 2025.

His research covers the modern history of Syria and Lebanon, especially the Assad regime. He wrote books on Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad and comments on Middle East affairs in the media.

He heads the academic side of the IDF's Erez and Havatzalot programs. In November 2025 he was chosen to chair the board of the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation. He is married to Professor Shirley Sharon-Zisser, and they have 3 children.