Admiral (ret.) Ami Ayalon

Guest Author

Admiral (ret.) Ami Ayalon is a former Director of the Israel Security Agency (the Shin Bet), a former Commander of Israel’s Navy and a former Flotilla 13 (Israel’s Navy SEALs) commando. Today he serves as Chairman of the Center for Maritime Strategy at Haifa University, Chairman of AKIM Israel (the National Association for the Rehabilitation of Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities), and is one of the founders of Blue White Future (BWF), a non-partisan political movement committed to securing the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. He has also served as a Cabinet Minister and a Member of Israel’s Knesset and was a recipient of the Medal of Valor, Israel’s highest military decoration.

He is the author of FRIENDLY FIRE: How Israel Became Its Own Worst Enemy, and the Hope for Its Future. Along with Sari Nusseibeh, he headed the People’s Voice peace initiative in 2002.

Ayalon holds a BA in economics and political science from Bar-Ilan University (1980); is a graduate of the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island (1982); holds an MA in public administration from Harvard University (1992)