Dr. Tal Becker is a Vice President at the Shalom Hartman Institute, where he leads educational initiatives on Israel and the Jewish world. In this capacity, he is a leading member of the Institute’s iEngage research seminar, which produces the premier educational program on Israeli engagement in North America.
Previously, Dr. Becker served as legal advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a veteran member of successive peace negotiation teams. He has represented Israel before the International Court of Justice and played an instrumental role in negotiating and drafting the Abraham Accords with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. He has decades of experience on the front lines of many of Israel's most pressing diplomatic, legal and policy challenges and is a key behind-the-scenes representative for the country in a wide variety of contexts.
Among numerous previous positions, Dr. Becker has been a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, senior policy advisor to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, a lead negotiator and drafter in peace talks, Director of the International Law Department at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, counsel to Israel's UN Mission in New York, and an international law expert for the Israel Defense Forces. He earned his doctorate from Columbia University and, among numerous scholarly awards, is the winner of the Rabin Peace Prize and the 2007 Guggenheim Prize for best international law book for his book Terrorism and the State.
