About the WIZO Aviv Young Leadership Mission 2018

Dr. Einat Wilf, a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Institute and the Baye Foundation Adjunct Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was Chair of the Education, Sports and Culture Committee, Chair of the Knesset Sub-Committee for Israel and the Jewish People, and Member of the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the 18th Knesset.

Previously, Dr. Wilf served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and prior to that she was a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Company. Born and raised in Israel, she served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces.

Dr. Wilf holds a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Wilf is the author of four books that explore key issues in Israeli society. Her first book, “My Israel, Our Generation”, is about Israel’s past and future from the perspective of the younger generation. Her second book, “Back to Basics: How to Save Israeli Education (at no additional cost)“, offers a detailed and feasible policy proposal for improving Israel’s education system. Her third book, “It’s NOT the Electoral System, Stupid”, demonstrates through comparative analysis why Israel’s electoral system is no worse than those of other democracies and therefore should not be changed. Her fourth and most recent book, “Winning the War of Words”, compiles her key essays on Israel and Zionism.

Director of the WIZO Gruss Community Center Afula

Daniel Benn (32) was born and raised on Moshav Devora near Afula. He served as an emissary in the USA prior to his enlistment into the IDF, where he served as an officer in an elite combat unit. After completing his military service Daniel was accepted into the Atidim Cadets for Public Service. This program aims to help improve the face of public service in Israel by integrating specifically trained, top-quality personnel in the public service sector. Daniel earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem parallel to completing a full course load at the School of Public Policy. After graduating from the Atidim program he worked at the Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Culture and Sport as a Senior Coordinator, Project Manager and Advisor to the Director-General. He also joined an organization engaged in strengthening and developing the Negev and the Galilee as an administrator.

At present, Daniel is the Director of the Wizo Gruss Community Center in Afula. He and his wife Reut returned to the moshav where he was born, where they are raising their children Dar-Lee and Arad, and tending to their olive grove.

Adi Altschuler serves today as the Israel manager of Google for Education. She is an educator, social entrepreneur and activist who has been at the forefront of two prominent initiatives in recent years – Krembo Wings, the first and only Israeli youth movement for special-needs children, which she set up at the age of 16, and Memories@Home, a project in which young people invite survivors into their homes on Holocaust Remembrance Day and hold discussions on the significance of keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.

Altschuler has won multiple awards, including the “Tamari Award” in 2005, in 2006 the “Bernstein Award” for Social Leadership; in 2008 she was announced “Israeli Woman of the Year” by LIONS; in 2013 she received the “Rappaport Award” for leading social change in the Israeli society; In 2014, Adi was elected by “TIME” Magazine as one of the six future world leaders, and in the same year she was chosen to speak at the UN on Social entrepreneurship as a vehicle for growth in developing countries.

Emi Palmor, Director General of the Ministry of Justice, born and raised in Jerusalem, mother to Nimrod, officer in the IDF, and Yuval, now volunteering for a year of community service prior to her military service.

Previously, Ms. Palmor served as the Director of the Department of Pardons in the Ministry of Justice. In that role, she was responsible for preparing the Minister of Justice’s recommendations for the president of Israel, regarding pardon requests, including relief from prison sentences, fines, disqualification penalties & removal of a criminal record. In addition, Ms. Palmor was a Member of the Negotiation Team for the Release of POW Gilad Shalit, and has been appointed to coordinate and carry out political gestures for prisoner release to the Palestinian Authority.

In the past, Ms. Palmor served as a prosecutor in the criminal section of the Office of the State Attorney. In that position, she appeared before the Supreme Court regarding various criminal proceedings.

Ms. Palmor sees the Ministry of Justice as “the foundation stone of the existence of the rule of law and as the protector of human rights in the State of Israel – a Jewish and democratic country”.