Ambassador (ret.) Michael Ratney

Michael Ratney served for over three decades as a distinguished U.S. diplomat, most recently as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ratney served as the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, as the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Israel, as well as postings in Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Doha, Mexico City, Tunis, Bridgetown, and Washington DC. Over his career, Ratney has been at the center of high-profile diplomatic initiatives throughout the Middle East, including as U.S. Special Envoy for Syria. He taught leadership on the faculty of the National Defense University in Washington, and was Dean of the State Department’s School of Language Studies. Ratney speaks Arabic and French, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and earned degrees from Boston University and George Washington University.

Dr. Shira Efron

Dr. Shira Efron is the former Israel Policy Forum Research Director and The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Senior Fellow. She also serves as a special climate change advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the co-chair of the subgroup on regional cooperation of President Herzog’s climate forum. Dr. Efron has spent over 15 years in U.S. think tanks, including the RAND Corporation, where she founded and led the Israel program between 2016-2022, the Center for American Progress, and Middle East Institute, and the Tel Aviv based Institute for National Security Studies. She was previously a consultant with the U.N. country team in Jerusalem, where she focused on access and movement issues in Gaza. She has a PhD and MPhil in policy analysis from RAND’s Graduate School, an MA in international relations/international business from New York University, and a BSc in biology (major) and computer science (minor) from Tel Aviv University.

Samer Sinijlawi

Samer Sinijlawi is a Palestinian Political Activist that calls for Palestinian Reforms & Democracy and believes in Israeli Palestinian Dialogue and Coexistence and is the Chairman of Jerusalem Development Fund. Samer was the only high-profile Palestinian politician who visited The Gaza Envelope after the 7th of October and condemned Hamas infrastructure cameras. Samer also visited the Shiva of the Bibas family and asked Yarden Bibas for pardon. He is invited to major conferences, including INSS, Herzilya, MEAD, CMED, and others. Samer was a head of international and Israeli relations on the Fateh Supreme Committee and was in charge of relations between Fateh and major political parties in Europe and the Arab world and as well as in Israel. Furthermore, he is the Palestinian with the most appearances in Israeli Media, including TV channels 11, 12, 13, 14 and I24, radio and newspapers.

Rachel Brandenburg is the Israel Policy Forum Washington Managing Director and Senior Fellow. She comes to Israel Policy Forum with over a decade of experience at the State Department, the Department of Defense, the U.S. House of Representatives, the think tank community, and the private sector. Prior to joining Israel Policy Forum, Rachel was vice president at The Cohen Group (TCG), where she worked with clients across multiple industries and markets. Previously, Rachel served as national security advisor to then-U.S. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. During Rachel’s tenure in the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Secretary of Defense for Middle East policy, she served as director of the Iraq and counter-ISIS coalition team and director of the Levant team. Rachel also worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace as a senior program officer in the Middle East and Africa Center, and at the State Department in the Middle East Partnership Initiative office and the Office of Middle East Transitions. Rachel was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in Israel and a Critical Language Scholarship in Jordan. She holds a Master of Science in foreign service degree from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, and a Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.