Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs

Not to be confused with Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA),^[4] formerly the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), is an Israeli think tank specializing in public diplomacy and foreign policy founded in 1976.^[5] JCPA publishes the biennial journal Jewish Political Studies Review alongside other content.

Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs

Founded	1976[1]
Founder	Daniel J. Elazar[1]
Type	Public Policy Think Tank
Location	Beit Milken, 13 Tel Hai St. Jerusalem[2]
Key people	Dore Gold (President, 2000 - 2015 & 2016 - present)[3]
Website	jcpa.org

JCPA building in Katamon

History

Scholar Daniel Elazar founded Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) as an independent, non-profit research and policy studies institute to analyze key problems facing Israel and world Jewry in 1976.^[6] JCPA incorporated two institutes: the Center for Jewish Community Studies, founded in 1970 to analyze the policy implications of the political, civic, and communal dimensions of Jewish life, and the Jerusalem Institute for Federal Studies, founded in 1976 to conduct research on Arab-Israeli peace.^[7][8]

Israeli diplomat Dore Gold headed JCPA from 2000 to 2015, when he took a leave of absence to become director-general of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[9][10] Gold returned as president in October 2016.^[11] In 2023, American diplomat Jason Greenblatt joined the JCPA as senior director for Arab–Israel diplomacy.^[12]

In October 2024, JCPA changed its name to the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) to evolve from a think tank to a center focusing on policy diplomacy and communications.^[13]

Building

Elazar personally raised most of the funds for the operation of the organization and the restoration of an historic building on Tel Hai Street in Jerusalem, named in honor of the Milken family.^[8] The building, Beit Milken, served as the Embassy of Uruguay from 1957 to 1980, when Uruguay decided to move their embassy to Tel Aviv.^[14] In 1989, the 1,200 ton building was moved 16 meters on rails to reach the site it currently occupies.^[15]

Political orientation

According to JCFA, it is apolitical organization, with a large number of experts on Arab affairs across the world.^[13] In 2015 Haaretz identified Sheldon Adelson as "one of the main financers of JCFA in recent years";^[9]

Activities

According to JFCA's leadership, the center engages with countries in the Arab world with whom Israel does not have formal relations.^[13]

Institute for Contemporary Affairs

The Jerusalem Center founded the Institute for Contemporary Affairs (ICA) jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation.^[16] The current director of the ICA is Ambassador Alan Baker.^[17] Through this outlet, the JCPA publishes Jerusalem Issue Briefs and Jerusalem Viewpoints.^[18] They also publish the twice-yearly Strategic Perspectives, special reports presenting studies on Israeli security and diplomacy topics by the Contributing Editors board of the ICA.^[19]

Institute for Global Jewish Affairs

In 2008, JCFA founded the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs in response to growing international anti-Semitism. It was directed by Manfred Gerstenfeld until 2021.^[20][21]

The institute helps direct the "Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism Project" and its associated monthly publication "Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism," both of which attend to global anti-Semitism.^[22]

Conferences

On March 24, 2014, the Jerusalem Center held a conference entitled "Europe and Israel: A New Paradigm." The conference focused on the complicated relationship between Israel and Europe, including topics such as economics and the BDS movement, security and anti-Semitism. The conference was well attended and received a significant amount of press, including articles in The Times of Israel,^[23] The Jerusalem Post,^[24] J-Wire,^[25] Ynetnews,^[26] and CBN News.^[27]

Publications

The JCFA publishes the Jewish Political Studies Review, a biannual journal that describes itself as "dedicated to the study of Jewish political institutions and behavior, Jewish political thought, and Jewish public affairs".^[28]

See also

• NGO Monitor (Non-governmental Organization Monitor), Jerusalem-based NGO, which analyzes the output of international NGOs from a pro-Israel perspective. Run between 2001-2007 by the JCFA.