Overview
- Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative has created an Israel Program and named senior research fellow Barak Sella as its lead.
- Core components include the Shared Society Lab led by Dana Schleifer, a new course called DPI-635: “Arguing Israel–Palestine,” research fellows and an Israeli Research Fellowship for 2026–27 residencies.
- Organizers frame the effort as policy-oriented and pluralistic rather than advocacy, with Sella saying it meets an “acute need” for serious, contextual research on Israel.
- MEI chair Tarek E. Masoud says the program is modestly resourced, will draw on Belfer Center support, and will seek small-scale donations rather than large internal funding.
- The announcement has drawn mixed but muted reactions on campus and comes against a backdrop of intensified attention to Israel since Oct. 7, 2023 and recent Harvard partnerships and legal disputes tied to campus antisemitism.