Israeli Maj. Gen. Yair Golan to Join The Washington Institute as a Visiting Military Fellow

Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff will focus on Israeli security strategy in volatile region

WASHINGTON, D.C. – IDF Maj. Gen. Yair Golan will join the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as a visiting military fellow after Labor Day, the Middle East policy think tank announced today.

“We are very pleased to welcome Maj. Gen. Yair Golan to the Institute,” said Robert Satloff, Institute Executive Director and the Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy. “Having just concluded service as deputy chief of staff, he brings unparalleled leadership experience to his understanding of Israel’s current national security challenges.”

“Serving as a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute will provide me with the opportunity to learn from the Institute’s outstanding scholars and to share the insights I have gained as an IDF officer and commander,” said General Golan. “Thinking about Israel’s regional challenges through the Washington lens is critical to defining an overall strategy for security and peace.”

General Golan will be the featured speaker at the Institute’s tenth annual Zeev Schiff Memorial Lecture on Israeli National Security, to be held at noon on Thursday, September 7. (Schiff, who was Israel’s leading strategic thinker and preeminent military correspondent during his 50-year career with Ha’aretz, was a longtime associate of The Washington Institute. He passed away in 2007.)

General Golan's IDF career spans nearly 37 years, with assignments including commander of Northern Command, head of the IDF Operations Directorate, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, and commander of the Home Front Command. He received his bachelor of arts degree in political science from Tel Aviv University and a master of public administration degree from Harvard University. Additionally, he is a graduate of both the IDF's Command and Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.

About the Washington Institute: The Washington Institute is an independent, nonpartisan research institution funded exclusively by U.S. citizens that seeks to advance a balanced and realistic understanding of American interests in the Middle East and to promote the policies that secure them. Drawing on the research of its fellows and the experience of its policy practitioners, the Institute promotes informed debate and scholarly research on U.S. policy in the region.

Media Contact: Ian Byrne, 202-452-0650, email.