Eran Lerman Named Director of Israel/Middle East Office

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 29 November 2001

Dr. Eran Lerman has been named director of the American Jewish Committee's Israel/Middle East office, located in Jerusalem.

Dr. Lerman comes to AJC after a distinguished career in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where he spent most of the last 18 years in the Directorate of Military Intelligence Research and Production Division, rising to the rank of Colonel and holding the position of Assistant for Strategic Analysis.

In addition, he has served as a member of the Israeli delegation to Arab-Israeli peace talks and multilateral negotiations in the years 1992-1995, working on issues of arms control and regional security.

"Eran's exceptional analytical, diplomatic and communication skills will stand him in good stead as our representative in Israel," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. "We are thrilled that he has come on board to fill this vitally important position."

A third generation Israeli, Dr. Lerman recently honed his leadership skills at Harvard University, where he earned a mid-career degree in Public Administration at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a Wexner Fellow.

Prior to his stretch as an analyst, Lerman earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, at the age of 25. He holds a B.A. in Modern Middle Eastern History and General History from Tel Aviv University. He left the IDF in 1989 to teach at the Haifa University Department of Political Science, but was soon asked by the IDF to return as a senior analyst.

"I am both proud and happy to have been offered this position by the AJC, which I have come over the years to appreciate and admire as an embodiment of the finest qualities in American, and American Jewish, public life," Dr. Lerman said.

"Having been at AJC headquarters in Manhattan on September 11, I am acutely aware of the treacherous waters we are all sailing, but I feel I am on board the best ship ever to traverse them," said Dr. Lerman. "It is my hope, and that of my staff, to use Beit Moses, AJC's center in Jerusalem, as a cornerstone of the effort to educate Israelis, from all walks of life, about American Jewry and to strengthen still further the vitally important links between the United States and Israel, and American Jewry and Israel."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org