Page 15 - PresidentReport2024Portrait

Meet

Eli Bahar,

Chair of the Executive
Committee

Eli Bahar is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law.
He also has degrees in Economics, Political Science, and Public
Administration and a Master’s in Public Administration from the
Kennedy School at Harvard. Eli served for many years in the legal
department of the General Security Services, and from 2006-2011,
served as the organization’s Legal Advisor. During 2012-2018, Eli
was a researcher in the Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Program of the Israel
Democracy Institute. He is the author of Providing Legal Counsel in
a Security Organization (in Hebrew) and The Test of the Shin Bet: Law
and Democratic Values (in Hebrew). Currently, Eli lectures in the
Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University on national
legal and security issues, and is engaged in various public activities,
including the release of the hostages taken on October 7th. In
addition, he is involved in several start-ups in the field of chemistry
and biology.

Eli was invited to join HAC as Chair of the Executive Committee
two years ago. “I discovered an excellent institution, and a
dedicated administration and faculty,” he recalls. “HAC has a clear
and important mission of academic excellence, equal opportunity,
and social mobility. That is the story of HAC. We give secular,
Haredi, and Arab-Israeli students the feeling that we see them,
that we invest in them, and provide them with a positive learning
experience.”

Eli explains that HAC is deeply rooted in the urban landscape and
reflects Jerusalem’s multicultural environment. “A large part of the
faculty and students are Jerusalemites, and there are many existing
collaborations with government ministries and other Jerusalem-
based organizations. HAC makes a significant social and economic
impact on the City.”

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