Name Arnon Soffer | Role Professor | |
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Arnon Soffer (born 24 December 1935 in Tel-Aviv) is an Israeli geographer and a professor of Geography and environmental sciences, specialising in water issues and demography. Soffer is one of the University of Haifa founders. He is known for his research into demographic, water, environmental, political, and strategy issues of the state of Israel.
Soffer has been vocal about the very existence of Palestinians as posing a "demographic threat" in that they may not be a minority population and thus they are a threat by the ability to vote. As such he has been credited with working to implement the "separation policy" of Israel. This has been labeled by some as modeling an Apartheid protocol.
Biography
Soffer spent his childhood in the moshava Rishon LeZion which became a city when he reaching the age of 15 (in 1950). He and his classmates from the Gymnasia Realit formed the first handball team of the city operated under the auspices of "Maccabi". In the 1950s Soffer played in Israel's handball national team. During his military service in the IDF, he served in the Nahal Brigade. Soffer has three academic degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1965, he began working as a lecturer at the University of Haifa. Soffer served in a variety of roles in the academic faculty at the University of Haifa, including the Department for Geography, chairman of the Jewish-Arab Center and the Institute for the Study of the Middle East, Dean of the Faculty for Social Sciences and Vice Chairman of the Center for National security research. Since 1970, he has taught, mentored and is involved in the IDF Command and Staff College; In 1978 he became a professor at the National Defense College and was appointed head of the College Research Center in 2007.
Soffer is now retired, and teaches only the security officials studying at the University of Haifa, including students from the National Defense College, Tactical Command College, the Havatzalot Program of the Intelligence Corps, and the Trainee Course of the Israel police.