Yechiel Leiter
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dr Yechiel (Michael) Leiter ( he, יחיאל לייטר) is an Israeli historian of philosophy, and also a public policy analyst. Leiter is a resident scholar at Jerusalem's Herzl Institute. He has previously served as Chief of Staff to
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
at Israel's Ministry of Finance and as political assistant to Ariel Sharon in Israel's parliament. Leiter is also an ordained Rabbi and has written three books and numerous essays on politics in the Middle East.


Early life and education

Yechiel Leiter was born on 1 October 1959 in
Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. After moving to
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1978 at the age of 18, Leiter served as a combat medic in the IDF and participated in Operation Peace for The Galilee in 1982. He studied Judaism over the course of eight years and subsequently taught Judaism at a number of centers for higher learning in Jerusalem. Leiter holds an undergraduate degree in Law, a BA in Political Science, an MA in International Relations, and a PhD in political philosophy from the
University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...
. His doctoral thesis focuses on the influence of the Hebrew Bible on John Locke's theory of consensual government.


Career

Leiter served as a political advisor to Knesset Member Ariel Sharon, and in multiple senior government positions: first as Deputy Director General of Israel's Ministry of Education where he helped plan a major overhaul of the educational system, and then as Chief of Staff to
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
in the Ministry of Finance, where he took an active role in the dramatic economic reform program that revolutionized Israel's economy. Leiter subsequently became a senior policy analystYechiel Leiter
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, one of Israel's leading foreign policy institutes where he directed and edited one of Israel's leading geo-political blogs: JCPA.org. In that capacity he was also a frequent guest on Israeli news programs, and was a contributor to major Israeli media outlets such as
YNet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...
, Maariv-NRG, and columnist for Israel's leading daily,
Yisrael Hayom ''Israel Hayom'' ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם, lit=Israel Today) is an Israeli national Hebrew-language free daily newspaper. First published in 2007, ''Israel Hayom'' is Israel's most widely distributed newspaper. Owned by the fa ...
. In 2008, Leiter ran as a candidate for election to the Knesset in the
Likud Party Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...
's primaries. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of 3H Global,Dr Yechiel (Michael) Leiter
3hge.com
a leading international consultancy working alongside global leaders and many of the world's most influential figures. 3H Global specializes in helping governments to formulate policy unique to the needs of each country and assists with hands-on implementation of those policies. In his capacity as CEO of 3H Global, Leiter co-authored the 100-Day Plan for the new government of Paraguay and was the key architect of the government's economic development plan. In 2011, he was elected Chairman of Israel Ports Authority in a unanimous vote by the company's board of directors. In that capacity he was responsible for the planning of Israel's seaport operations and the building of two new deep-water ports in Ashdod and Haifa. Leiter taught political philosophy at the Law Faculty at Israel's Kiryat Ono Academic Center. He is Strategic Advisor to the Foundation to the Archaeological Exploration, Restoration and Expansion of Ancient Shiloh. Leiter has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, and as a director on the National Committee for the Perpetuation of the Memory of Theodor Herzl. He also serves on the Board of Directors of "The Israel Experience" a daughter company of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which manages the "Taglit-Birthright" program in Israel. eiter has authored three books and dozens of articles on Zionism and Israeli politics, and has lectured extensively to diverse audiences throughout the United States, Canada, England, Australia, South Africa, and South America. He lives in the Samarian community of Eli with his wife and their eight children.


Bibliography

*''John Locke's Political Philosophy and the Hebrew Bible, '' 2018,
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...
. * Aloh Naaleh - The Aliyah Imperative (1988) Hebrew * A Peace to Resist: Why the Rabin-Arafat Deal Must Be Stopped, and How It Can Be Done (1993)
/ref> * Crisis in Israel (1994)

* Israel at the cross-roads: The view from the hills of Judea and Samaria (1999)
/ref> * Between Despair and Hope: Public Perceptions of Educational Reform (2005) * Political Views from Above (2008) Hebrew * The Political Hebraism of John Locke: A New-Old REading of the Two Treatises of Government (2008)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiter, Yechiel Israeli civil servants Israeli political scientists Living people Rabbis in Hebron University of Haifa alumni Israeli rabbis American emigrants to Israel Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of Ono Academic College