Daniel Levy (political analyst)


Daniel Levy is an Israeli political scientist, policy advisor, and diplomat. He is the president of the Middle East Project. From 2012 to 2016, he was Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to that he was a senior Fellow and Director of the New America Foundation's Middle East Taskforce in Washington, D.C. and a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation. Earlier he worked as an analyst for the International Crisis Group's Middle East Program.

Early life

Daniel Levy is the son of Michael Levy, a member of the House of Lords.

Education

Levy was educated at The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent school in Elstree in Hertfordshire, followed by King's College at the University of Cambridge. He received his bachelor's and master's degree with honors from King's College. He was awarded prizes in Social and Political Science. He was the Anti-Racism Officer of Cambridge University Students Union from 1989 to 1990, and between 1991 and 1994, was Chairman of the World Union of Jewish Students.

Life and career

Daniel Levy did his compulsory army service in the IDF as an NCO in the Liaison Office with the United Nations Forces based in the region and in the office of the Deputy Coordinator of Government Activities in the territories.

Diplomatic career

Levy was the Director of Policy and International Efforts at Heskem, the Israeli headquarters of the joint non-governmental Israeli-Palestinian Geneva Initiative. Levy led the working-level Israeli negotiating team for over two years, and was the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Accord.
Levy served as senior policy adviser to former Israeli Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin, from March 2000 to March 2001. In this capacity, he was responsible for coordinating policy on various aspects of the ministerial portfolio, including issues related to peace negotiations, the Palestinian minority in Israel, civil and human rights, representing the minister on governmental committees.
During the Ehud Barak government, he worked in the Prime Minister's Office as special adviser and head of the Jerusalem Affairs unit under Minister Haim Ramon.
Levy was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Taba Summit with the Palestinians in January 2001, and of the negotiating team for the "Oslo 2" Agreement from May to September 1995, under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Career in think tanks

In 2003, Levy worked as an analyst for the International Crisis Group Middle East Program, during which time he authored reports, including "A Time To Lead – the International Community and the Middle East", "Middle East Endgame – How a Comprehensive Peace Settlement Would Look", "A Middle East Roadmap to Where?", and "Identity Crisis: Israel and its Arab Citizens" He also worked for three years as projects director for the Economic Cooperation Foundation, a Tel Aviv based policy ‘think-tank and do-tank’ whose mission is to promote regional peace and stability in the Middle East.
As of April 2008, Levy is a member of J Street's Advisory Council. In 2012, he joined the European Council on Foreign Relations as director of the MENA programme, based in London.