Participants met with professors and students, learned about academic programs and participated in guided tours on campus.
After two consecutive years on Zoom, it was such a joy to finally be able to open our campus for visitors to TAU Open Day today. Over 6000 prospective students arrived throughout the day to learn about the various study programs, admission requirements and application processes.
This year, we added tailor made, guided tours to the program, enabling the participants to chat with our students, academic and administrative staff, visiting faculty buildings and labs.
For instance, in The Buchmann Faculty of Law, participants met with law students who answered their burning questions, such as how to combine studies and work, whether or not law studies could be combined with a second discipline, about the social life at the faculty, and more. In The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, the prospective students visited research labs and chatted with the researchers. In The Iby and Aladar Flaischman Faculty of Engineering, they watched experiments in mechanical and materials engineering, whilst in the lobby of the Coller School of Management participants were treated to short TED-styled talks by faculty members on the studies of accounting and management.
English speaking visitors met with representatives from TAU International, who offered information on English-language Bachelor’s degrees. Student exchange representatives were also available to present the extensive selection of study abroad options that TAU students can enjoy during their studies.
“Although we have all gotten quite used to Zoom and other online meetings, there’s really no substitute for in-person gatherings of this kind,” says Sharon Ariel, Marketing Director at Tel Aviv University. “It was important for us to allow prospective students to get max benefit from their campus experience today. Organized tours and meetings across campus gave them the opportunity to learn about the study programs from current students, see labs up-close and observe as leading researchers in their fields conduct experiments, listen to lectures by faculty and administrative staff about different study options and tracks, as well as entering lecture halls for the first time and walk around our beautiful green campus. On our Open Day we gave those who consider studying at TAU the opportunity to feel like a student for one day.”
Festive event brings hundreds of Governors and friends to campus from around the world, for first time since 2019.
The annual TAU Board of Governors Meeting will be taking place between May 11-16. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the festive event will fully take place live on campus.
Here’s a selection of highlights from the program, with a focus on the impact of TAU’s big ideas on the success of the State of Israel and beyond.
Honorary Degrees
In a festive ceremony on the evening of May 12, TAU will award Honorary Doctorates to: Prof. Cornelia (Cori) Bargmann (Neurobiologist and Geneticist, Rockefeller University, USA), Prof. Sir Michael V. Berry (Theoretical Physicist, University of Bristol, UK), Mr. Eric J Gertler (Executive Chairman, U.S. News & World Report, USA), Mr. James S. Gertler (Philantropist, USA), Prof. Bernd Huber (President of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany), Ms. Jodi Kantor (Journalist and Author, USA), Prof. Katalin Kariko (Biochemist and Senior VP of BioNTech, Hungary/USA), Mr. Solomon Lew (Philanthropist and Chairman, Australia), Prof. Jehuda Reinharz (Historian and Company President, Israel/USA), Prof. Jurgen Renn (Historian and Institute Director, Germany).
An Honorary Fellowship will be awarded to: Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York, USA.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on TAU’s Facebook page and its LinkedIn page on May 12 at 8 p.m. (Israel time). The public is invited to attend virtually.
From the 2021 Honorary Doctorates Ceremony (Photo: Chen Galil)
Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research
The Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research at Tel Aviv University celebrates pioneering scientists and scholars who have reached the highest levels of excellence in both research and teaching.
TAU will inaugurate the Sylvan Adams Sports Center on Wednesday, May 11, at 4:15 p.m. The event will be broadcast live by The Jerusalem Post.
The Dan David Prize: Past Forward
The winners of the 2022 Dan David Prize – nine groundbreaking historians and researchers from around the world – will arrive in Israel this week to receive the $3 million Prize at a festive ceremony on Wednesday, May 11, at Tel Aviv University.
At a time when documented facts and evidence-based conclusions are increasingly contested, understanding our history is more important than ever. That’s why, to mark the Dan David Prize’s 20th anniversary last year, the Prize was redesigned to celebrate scholars and practitioners whose work illuminates the human past, bringing a historical lens to current debates and our thinking about the future.
The winners of the 2022 Dan David Prize:
Mirjam Brusius – a cultural historian who studies visual and material culture in global and colonial contexts
Bart Elmore – an environmental historian who uses everyday products – from sodas to seeds – to demonstrate how large multinational firms have reshaped global ecosystems
Tyrone Freeman – a historian of philanthropy who researches African-American charitable giving and activism
Verena Krebs – a cultural historian who draws on material culture and art, alongside written sources, to uncover the complex relationship between Ethiopia and Western Christendom
Efthymia Nikita – an osteoarchaeologist who uses a wide range of innovative methods to unlock what human skeletal remains reveal about the health, diets and mobility of ancient peoples
Nana Oforiatta Ayim – a curator, writer, filmmaker and public historian whose work recenters African narratives, institutions and cultural expressions in telling the past
Kristina Richardson – a social and cultural historian of the medieval Islamic world
Natalia Romik – a public historian, architect and curator whose work focuses on Jewish memory and commemoration of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Ukraine
Kimberly Welch – uses endangered local legal archives from the antebellum American South to explore lawsuits brought by free and enslaved Black people
Each winner will receive $300,000 in recognition of their achievements and in support of their future work.
Inauguration of Koret Center for Jewish Civilization
On Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m., TAU and ANU – Museum of the Jewish People (ANU) will inaugurate the Koret Center for Jewish Civilization, in the presence of Dr. Anita Friedman, President of the Koret Foundation and Chair of TAU’s Global Campaign. With the vast knowledge and resources of both institutions, the unique initiative will create an educational and cross-disciplinary approach to meet the challenges of contemporary Jewish thought, social engagement and identity.
In addition, Governors will attend a number of tours, symposia and parties during the BOG meeting. At one event, Merav Michaeli, Israel’s Minister of Transport and Road Safety, will be among experts who will speak about “Israel’s Transportation Revolution,” as part of a symposium entitled “The Urban Revolution: The Future Design of Cities and Campuses.”
For regular BOG updates and photos, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, hashtag #TAUbog22.
3D human spinal cord implants, a new type of prehistoric human and what could be the ultimate solution to Global Warming.
Birthdays are a great opportunity to reflect on achievements in the year that passed and to set new goals. As we celebrate Israel’s 74th birthday, we look back at some of our top accomplishments in the past year.
Tackling the Untreatable
Paralysis from spinal injury has long remained untreatable. Could scientific developments help those affected get on their feet again sooner than imagined? TAU researchers believe our 3D human spinal cord implants could help paraplegics walk again. In a worldwide first, our researchers have engineered 3D human spinal cord tissues and implanted them in a lab model with long-term chronic paralysis, demonstrating high rates of success in restoring walking abilities. Now, the researchers are preparing for the next stage of the study, which is clinical trials in human patients. They hope that within a few years the engineered tissues will be implanted in paralyzed individuals enabling them to stand up and walk again.
While on the topic of incurable conditions, our researchers uncovered a core mechanism that causes ALS, paving the way to combat the fatal disease. Their findings may lead to ways to delay, or even roll back, the course of the fatal disease in its early stages. This discovery can lead to the development of new therapies that could enable nerve cells to heal before irreversible damage occurs in the spinal cord.
TAU researchers also made a first-of-its-kind 3D-print of a glioblastoma tumor, which mimics a living cancer malignancy. This could power new methods to improve treatment and accelerate the development of new drugs for the most lethal type of brain cancer.
It’s Getting Warmer
A new discovery by Tel Aviv University researchers may change the story of human evolution: We discovered a new type of prehistoric human – a missing link in human evolution. The bones of an early human, unknown to science, were found at an excavation site near the city of Ramla. Researchers believe the remains represent one of the “last survivors” of an ancient human group that lived here at the Levant alongside Homo sapiens (modern humans) between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.
Today’s humans are highly reliant on electricity for many of our basic needs, and following a petition from TAU’s Legal Clinics, Israel’s Supreme Court included electricity as a fundamental civil right. A petition jointly filed by Tel Aviv University’s Human Rights Clinic at The Buchmann Faculty of Law will help keep the electricity on for Israel’s most underprivileged populations. In response to the appeal, Israel’s High Court ruled that electricity must not be cut off for citizens who prove a difficult economic or medical condition, effective immediately. Attorney Adi Nir Binyamini from TAU’s Human Rights Clinic has dealt with electricity litigation for several years now, and says, “I feel personal and professional satisfaction that on the coldest day of the year, when people were left without heating, the High Court accepted our position and ruled not to cut off people’s electricity due to poverty and that debt must instead be collected by more moderate means.”
While people need electricity to stay warm during cold winters (and the previous winter in Israel was indeed unusually cold), our planet could need some help to cool down. Could we have found the ultimate solution to Global Warming? A breakthrough TAU discovery may accelerate mass transition to sustainable energy: we found a way to sustainably produce non-polluting green hydrogen gas from algae on an industrial scale.
Further Contributions
This has been a challenging year in Israel and worldwide. We will continue to lead the way in making Israel’s future bright with new possibilities and pioneering changes , and look forward to another year of exploration in pursuit of the unknown.
Following warming of relations between Israel and Turkey.
The warming of relations between Turkey and Israel, which peaked recently with the summit meeting between the President of Israel Yitzhak Herzog and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is now expressed in the academic arena as well. For the first time in about a decade, Tel Aviv University has renewed its academic relations with Turkey, forming ties with three of the country’s leading universities: Koç, Özyeğin, and Sabancı.
In a recent meeting held in Istanbul, TAU president Prof. Ariel Porat and the heads of the three Turkish universities decided to advance the so-called “Academic Bridge Initiative”, which comprises a series of academic collaborations, including student and faculty exchange programs and joint research initiatives.
The meeting was also attended by TAU’s VP International Prof. Milette Shamir and VP for Resource Development Amos Elad, Israel’s Consul General in Istanbul Udi Eitam, leaders of the Jewish community in Turkey including the Chairman of the Jewish community Yitzhak Ibrahim Zada, and Turkish academics, entrepreneurs, and industrialists.
A Bridge between Nations
“The purpose of the initiative is to promote academic research in both countries,” emphasized Prof. Porat. The joint research projects are expected to address a vast range of issues, including matters of regional importance such as climate, entrepreneurship, and archaeology, as well the situation in the Middle East.
Involved parties say that without the warming of relations between heads of state it would have been difficult to advance the academic collaboration. Prof. Milette Shamir, TAU’s VP International expressed, “I sincerely hope that after years of little contact between Israeli and Turkish institutions, our visit heralds a new era. Israel and Turkey are powerfully connected by a rich history, a range of both political and economic interests, and similar challenges in areas such as climate, health, and technology. Thus, the academic bridge we are building has great potential.”
Featured image: Israeli and Turkish representatives (photo: Can Kınalıkaya)
Initiative will promote cutting-edge research with applications in biomedicine, space, defense, and more.
Tel Aviv University and Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) in India have agreed to jointly build a collaborative research establishment to explore advanced production technologies.
The Future of Cutting-Edge Production
The new Thapar-Tel Aviv University Center of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing will draw knowledge from multidisciplinary teams from TAU and TIET with expertise in all fields of engineering and sciences. As such, it aims to promote cutting-edge research with industry applications in disciplines including biomedicine, automotives, space and defense.
TAU Vice President for International Collaboration Prof. Milette Shamir and Prof. Prakash Gopalan, Director of TIET, on April 4 signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding at TIET’s main campus in Patiala, India, in the presence of Mr R R Vederah, Chairman of TIET’s Board of Governors.
Speaking at the signing, Prof. Shamir said “TIET is an important partner for TAU in India and the new Center will bring cooperation between our two universities to a new level.” Noting that 2022 marks 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and India, she added that “academia plays a special role in the bilateral relationship. Through the advancement of knowledge, bridges are built between students and researchers that can generate substantial benefits for both countries.”
Expanding Existing Partnership
As part of the agreement, TIET has committed to establish a TAU Chair Professorship who will lead the Center. Prof. Noam Eliaz, the founding Chair of TAU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering is due to serve as the new Center’s inaugural chair professor.
“I’m excited and proud to be chosen by Thapar University as TAU’s representative to serve as the new chair professor and take part in establishing one of six centers of excellence for advanced production technologies, including 3D printing and unprecedented resource investment,” he said. He added that he aims to turn the Center into a leader in its field in India and in the world.
The new Center expands the existing partnership between TAU and TIET, which includes initiatives such as the TAU-TIET Food Security Center of Excellence headed by Prof. Yossi Shacham, along with joint degree programs in life sciences and engineering, and other forms of academic cooperation.
Featured image: TAU Vice President of International Collaboration Prof. Milette Shamir (front left) and Prof. Prakash Gopalanat (front right), Director of the Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, at the April 4 signing ceremony in Patiala, India
New TAU program will help mayors of cities across Israel improve services, strengthen social bonds, and foster relationship with mayors globally.
Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Sagol Family announced a major new effort to strengthen local leadership across Israel through The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University. Inspired by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, the new program aims to help mayors of cities across Israel deliver better and more equitable public services to residents, strengthen social bonds, and deepen ties to the global community of innovative city leaders.
“Israel’s local authorities have a much greater impact on citizens’ lifestyles and quality of life than the central government,” said Professor Ariel Porat, President of Tel Aviv University. “The quality of sanitation, transportation, welfare, education, and health services mostly depends on the local authority’s performance. This new program aims to improve the management of local authorities in Israel, thereby enhancing the quality of life of Israelis throughout the country.”
Mayors on the Front Lines
“The series of recent terrorist attacks in Israel underscores the urgency of this new initiative, which is aimed at helping mayors confront their most difficult challenges and most pressing crises,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “Mayors are on the front lines of every crisis, whether it’s terrorism or a pandemic. The Bloomberg Harvard program has proved phenomenally successful, and now we’re glad to team up with our partners in Israel on a new program that builds on our success and will help local leaders across the State of Israel.”
In 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University established the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, an unparalleled effort by Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) to build the leadership capabilities of mayors and their teams. By engaging 40 mayors and 80 senior city leaders each year, this program develops effective organizational practices in city halls around the world, invests in a new generation of city leaders, and advances knowledge and establishes the field of city leadership at large. The program has trained 196 mayors and 318 leaders from 25 countries in the past five years.
Yossi Sagol began working with Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2018 to develop an Israel-based program similar to the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative that could strengthen the country from the local level up. The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership is the first-ever initiative inspired by the Bloomberg Harvard program and will be housed at Tel Aviv University’s Coller School of Management under the direction of Dean Moshe Zviran, the inaugural Faculty Director of the Israel City Leadership Initiative.
“Mayors are required to make decisions that impact tens or hundreds of thousands of people and manage huge budgets, but most of them lack experience in managing organizations that are as large and complex as a local authority,” said inaugural Faculty Director Moshe Zviran. “The job of mayor requires a vast range of managerial skills at the highest level and in our new program we intend to equip participants with helpful insights and a useful toolbox for making critical decisions and implementing innovation in the urban environment. Here they will also learn about developments in other cities, both in Israel and around the world.”
Elad Mayor Yisrael Porush, Yossi Sagol, Knesset Member Yoav Gallant, and Sami Sagol at the launch event (Photo: Chen Galili)
Year Long Program
The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership will focus on developing the leadership and management skills of mayors and their senior aides, while strengthening city hall operations. Specifically, the year-long program will build critical capabilities in fostering collaboration, using data in decision making, negotiation, crisis management, resident engagement, and generating and implementing innovative ideas through:
• Executive Education: Mayors and senior leaders will receive instruction in how to build leadership and management skills conducted by Coller School of Business and other Tel Aviv University disciplines. The mayors will conclude the year with additional training and networking hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University in New York City and Boston, in the United States.
• City Innovation Projects: Each mayor will receive innovation training and support to address an urgent issue facing their city with coaching and technical assistance from Hazira, an Israeli national program that establishes and guides innovation teams in local government across the country.
• Summer Fellowship Program: Tel Aviv University students will take part in a 10-week summer fellowship program in participating mayors’ offices throughout Israel.
• Local Government Alumni Network: The program will forge a local leadership network that will bring together all program participants and eventually alumni – mayors, municipal chiefs of staff and other senior city leaders – to share and adapt best practices and innovative policy ideas. The network will also serve as a platform for continuous education for participants and alumni.
• Research Program: The program will convene scholars from across Tel Aviv University to conduct applied research on a wide range of topics that are relevant to effective leadership and management in cities.
The State of Israel has about 260 cities and towns with mayors. The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership will invite applications and up to 20 mayors will be admitted each year. Selected mayors will also invite two key members of their team to go through the program. The first class of mayors will be announced in fall 2022. All expenses for the city hall officials program participation will be covered by this philanthropic funding through Tel Aviv University.
The program was inaugurated at a festive event at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural Science. Michael Bloomberg and Yossi Sagol were among speakers along with US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and Oakland, California Mayor Libby Schaaf, an alumna of the Bloomberg Harvard program. Over a dozen Israeli mayors were also in attendance.
Over a dozen Israeli mayors attended the inauguration of The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at TAU (Photo: Chen Galili)
Featured image: Left to Right: Michael R. Bloomberg, Prof. Ariel Porat and Yossi Sagol (Photo: Chen Galili)
The work was issued by the UAE’s largest public research institute.
For the first time since the signing of the Abraham Accords, an Israeli research book was published in Abu Dhabi. The UAE’s largest public research institute, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, has published Zionism in Arab Discourse by TAU’s Prof. Uriya Shavit and Dr. Ofir Winter from the Institute for National Security Studies, INSS. Translated into Arabic at the initiative of Dr. Rami Abd el-Hai Kabil, a lecturer of modern Hebrew literature in Sohag University, Egypt, this is the first Israeli research book to be published in the UAE.
Initially published in Hebrew in 2013 by HaKibbutz HaMeuchad Publishing House and in English in 2016 by the Manchester University Press, the book has aroused considerable interest. Its main thesis is that, alongside animosity towards Zionism and Israel, quite a number of Arab thinkers since the end of the 19th century, including members of the Muslim Brothers, have regarded various aspects of the Zionist enterprise as models which the Arab world should also adopt.
Arab texts that are mentioned in the book value a range of Zionist qualities, such as Israeli democracy, the figures of Herzl and Ben Gurion, the status of women in Israeli society, the revival of the Hebrew language, relations between Israel and the Jewish diaspora, and the achievements of Israeli science and academia.
Prof. Shavit and Dr. Winter: “In the book’s final chapter we wrote that Israelis can and should note the strengths identified by Arab thinkers – for example, the widely accepted notion that Israel’s democracy and rule of law can serve as a commendable model. We are very glad and proud that readers of Arabic will now be exposed to our book. In one sense, the very fact that it has been translated, under the auspices of the Abraham Accords, confirms our thesis – that the Arab world’s stance toward Israel is more multidimensional than what is commonly assumed.”
The book’s cover. Its webpage on the website of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research can be viewed here
Some “need time to unfreeze”, as they begin their studies on campus.
Tel Aviv University officially welcomed seven Ukrainian graduate students, who arrived within the framework of the Emergency Fellowship Fund recently announced by the University in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing refugee crisis.
The all-women group of students hail from different cities in Ukraine, stretching from Lviv and Kyiv to Mariupol and Mikolaiv, and will continue their studies in law, medicine, psychology, music and linguistics.
“You are very much wanted here at TAU,” President Ariel Porat told the students at the introductory meeting, expressing hope that despite the unfortunate circumstances students will find “a home away from home” at the University that will enrich their academic and personal lives.
Constant Worry
Most of the students left their families behind in Ukraine, and worry about their wellbeing around the clock. “I managed to speak to my family yesterday, but today the connection was severed and I was unable to reach them,” says Alisa, a graduate student in law, who will be studying Crisis Management at TAU. She comes from a small town near Mariupol, in Eastern Ukraine, which has suffered some of the heaviest blows in the fighting. Alisa heard about the Fellowship through her academic advisor, as did most of the other students.
Marina, another law student, was enrolled at the Ukrainian State Pedagogical University in Kropyvnytskyi, a central town which she says is pretty safe for now. The University premises, however, have been converted into living quarters for people escaping from more dangerous areas. Lectures are only taking place online and are highly irregular. “I was supposed to graduate in June,” she tells us, “but for now, I’m just happy to be able to continue my studies here at TAU.”
Kateryna from Kyiv studies psychology, and left immediate family members in Ukraine. “This is my first time in Israel and I know nothing about the local culture, but I’m very curious to learn,” she says, adding that the adjustment process helps her endure the constant concern about her family’s wellbeing.
“We need some time to ‘unfreeze’, before we can start to take in and appreciate our surroundings,” adds Alisa.
Here to Help
The students are being offered counseling and psychological services by TAU International, which has been taking full care of them since their arrival in Israel. “In light of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, we are making a great effort to ensure that the Ukrainian students enjoy their campus experience and have a smooth transition to living in Tel Aviv, and that all their immediate needs are met,” says Michal Linder Zarankin, the School’s International Projects Coordinator.
Their tuition and living expenses are covered by TAU’s $1 million Emergency Fellowship Fund, which was swiftly raised by the University’s donors around the world over the last few weeks.
Five more Ukrainian students are expected to arrive next week, as well as some faculty members.
Out of the 30,000 students studying at TAU, over 300 hold dual Israeli-Ukrainian citizenship. In addition to these, there are many Israeli TAU students of Ukrainian and Russian descent.
Featured image: Ukrainian graduate students are welcomed by TAU’s President Ariel Porat, Prof. Milette Shamir VP International and TAU International staffers
We welcome PhD researcher Maryana Sytar, who left her war-torn country.
Tel Aviv University welcomed the first Ukrainian researcher who will spend the coming semester at the University after she was forced to leave her home country due to war. On Thursday night, Maryana Sytar arrived safe and sound in Israel from the escalating war in Ukraine. She was the first graduate research student to arrive as part of TAU’s emergency scholarship program that was launched in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Maryana was working hard toward her PhD at the Koretsky Institute of State and Law of Ukraine before the war broke out. Over the next six months, she will continue her research at TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law. She is expected to be joined at TAU by additional Ukrainian scholars this week.
WATCH: Interview with Maryana Sytar on Ynet, March 20, 2022:
Tuition and Living Expenses Covered
The University established the Emergency Fellowship Fund for Ukrainian Graduate Students alongside a fundraising drive to support dozens of Ukrainian students and researchers with immediate refuge and assistance that will enable them to continue their academic studies and research, which have been halted due to the unfolding crisis.
The Fund will enable Ukrainian students at the graduate and post-doctoral levels to spend a full semester at TAU. Eligible applicants must hold Ukrainian citizenship. Application is open to students currently enrolled at a Ukrainian university, in any discipline. Successful applicants will be awarded full tuition alongside a living stipend and will be welcome to remain on campus for up to six months. TAU will invite them to campus shortly after notification of acceptance, and match the students with a TAU faculty member who will serve as a mentor while at TAU.
Furthermore, TAU is already in contact with the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel and the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine, as well as with their academic counterparts, to facilitate the process and ensure successful applicants are able to reach Israel as soon as possible. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis effective immediately and until further notice.
TAU views the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a red flag requiring all of us to make an all-out effort to help the Ukrainian people, many of whom have lost their homes and become refugees overnight. “The steps we are taking are admittedly modest. However, we hope that other academic institutions, both in Israel and worldwide, will follow our example, and lend a helping hand to the Ukrainian people in this dire situation,” said TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat.
“I’m afraid the war will lead Ukraine to lose a large majority of its Jewish communities,” said Lozhkin.
Already, several cities with significant Jewish populations and historic Jewish sites have endured evacuations and violence. Ukraine was in recent years home to the fourth largest Jewish population in Europe.
“Israel and the US need to increase all possible assistance to Jews in Ukraine, including the elderly, those fleeing the country, and those who fled to overcrowded western Ukraine instead,” said Lozhin, who co-led the establishment of the Ukrainian Jewry Research Initiative, carried out by TAU’s Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center in the Entin Faculty of the Humanities.
Speaking to the TAU crowd, Lozhkin also implored the global academic and scientific community to join efforts in opposing the war in Ukraine.
Furthermore, he urged Israel to allow non-Jewish refugees into the country alongside the tens of thousands of Jewish emigrants expected to make aliyah from Ukraine.
WATCH: Experts Unpack the Ukraine Crisis in a Special TAU Briefing
A Cold War Russia Cannot Win
Turning from the humanitarian implications of the war, Sadeh expanded on the lasting ramifications for Russia.
“In the immediate and long-term, Russia is at a great disadvantage to West,” said Sadeh, an expert on the political economy of the EU.
Western countries like Germany and Italy that until now greatly depended on Russian fuel and crop exports may feel a temporary strain. However, Sadeh indicated that Moscow is poised for dire outcomes as it is currently “under economic siege.”
If the current situation leads to another Cold War between Russian and the West, he emphasized that “Russia cannot win.” In addition to crippling sanctions squeezing the Russian economy toward collapse, he explained that the West holds a technological and political advantage over Russia.
Touching on the potential outcomes of the conflict, Sadeh explained that Putin may achieve his goal of preserving the nature of the Russian regime and preventing it from becoming democratic. Still, the situation may lead to long-awaited shifts in the West’s self-reliance on raw material production; shifts that he says could bolster the West’s strategic stance.
“The media, leaders, and public all see that Putin is not another dictator that can be paid off to be left alone,” he said. Moreso, the current events are catalyzing the West to understand that its economic interactions with Russia can and should change.
Protesters against the war and russian armed aggression in Ukraine, in Los Angeles, California, USA 2022
A Russian Civil War?
While Lozhkin and Sadeh provided insights on the consequences of the war, Moyal took a step back to explore the many questions around Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“The conflict is a reflection of Russia’s specific worldview after all it went through in the 20th century,” said Moyal, an expert in Soviet and modern Russian history. “I want to suggest that this is actually a civil war for Russia over its future, identity and regime.”
Moyal pointed to current clashes in Russian public opinion that indicate strife within the country. Examples include protests within Russia against the war in Ukraine and accounts of Russian soldiers pleading with Ukrainians to spare their lives so they can return home to report what state-sponsored propaganda machines are not.
Meanwhile, Putin’s actions signal to Russia that he is unwilling to relinquish his tight authoritarian grip on the country as he struggles to maintain what he sees as Russia’s historic identity in the face of former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, that more easily moved away from communism toward Western-style democracy.
“Those who used to be quiet in the cultural sphere, such as journalists for example, are starting to speak up and with this hopefully be able to change public opinion,” she said. “Most importantly, and more optimistically, it gives hope that people around Putin will change their stance [on him].”
An End in Sight?
While all three panelists agreed that the conflict is likely to escalate before it ends, they were optimistic that the long-term effects of the war have the potential to change Russia’s power dynamics for the benefit of both internal and international affairs.
“Putin is more of a cynical pragmatist than an ideologue, and he is ultimately after power,” said Sadeh. “The main threat for Putin is his inner circle. As sanctions continue to bite, they will become increasingly inclined to replace him.”
Moyal echoed Sadeh’s views that Russia will not benefit if it continues this path toward economic collapse. “Hopefully, this will bring about a change of regime, which would be a good prospect not just for Ukraine, but the whole world.”
Hundreds of TAU friends from around the world tuned in to listen to the expert panel. European affairs expert Dr. Esther Lopatin of TAU’s Division of Language Studies moderated the event.
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