Yoaz Hendel

Biography

Yoaz Hendel was born in Petah Tikva and grew up in the religious settlement of Elkana. At age 18, he began his military service in the Israel Defense Forces, joining the elite Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, where he served as a combat officer. He was discharged from the IDF after six years and remained active for several additional years in the Israeli security system and Prime Minister’s Office. During his time in the IDF, Hendel fought in the 2006 Lebanon War and the 2008/09 Gaza War (also known as Operation Cast Lead). He holds the rank of major in the Reserves where he serves each year.

Hendel is married to Shiri, has four children, and lives in Nes Harim.

Academic and media career

Hendel studied history at Tel Aviv University where he achieved his PhD. His thesis was entitled: "Intelligence techniques in the Ancient World - from the Hasmonean Revolt to the Bar Kochba Revolt." He served as a research fellow at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University and at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, and published several studies focusing on Israeli intelligence, the Second Lebanon War and guerrilla warfare tactics. From 2009 to 2011 he lectured on terrorism and guerrilla warfare at Bar-Ilan University's Political Science Department.

Hendel is a military historian who specializes in low intensity conflict and intelligence. Hendel writes a regular column for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, on politics, military, Zionism and Judaism. He was a military correspondent for Makor Rishon and presented a talk show for the IDF Radio and Channel 10.

Together with Zaki Shalom, a professor at Ben Gurion University, Hendel authored "Let the IDF Win": The Self-Fulfilling Slogan on the Al Aqsa Intifada and the struggle against terrorist organizations which was published in September 2010, and awarded the first prize in the Moldovan Award for Original Military Literature in that year. In March 2011 "Israel vs. Iran - War of Shadows", co-authored by Hendel with Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yaakov Katz, was published in Hebrew, followed by the English translation a year later. The book evaluates the threat to Israel’s security posed by a nuclear Iran since the Second Lebanon War of 2006, and analyzes Israel’s military and diplomatic options as well as intelligence analysis, future military measures, the Israeli Air Force attack in Syria, Operation Cast Lead, technological advances, cyberspace battles, assassinations and warfare smuggling by sea. The authors argue that Israel's war against Lebanon in 2006 and Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip in 2008/09 were surrogate wars against Iran.

In December 2015 Hendel published his fourth book "In an Unsown Land – an Israeli Journey", providing a first-person account of the tribal code in the Israeli society, and its political and security challenges. The book was described as a right-wing, modern version of Amos Oz’s "In the Land of Israel".

Public office

In August 2011 Hendel was appointed Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for Prime Minister Netanyahu and in early 2012 as a member of the negotiation team with the Palestinians in Jordan. He resigned on 21 February 2012, after Netanyahu told him he had lost confidence in him for having informed the Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein over his head about a sexual harassment case of the Prime Minister's bureau chief Natan Eshel which led to an investigation by the Civil Service Commission and Eshel's resignation. Hendel and Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser, who was also reprimanded by Netanyahu for the same reason, told Netanyahu that they had not updated him in order to not implicate him in the affair. In October 2012, Hendel was awarded the title of "Knight of Quality Government 2012" in the Maintenance of Government Quality and Integrity Category by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, for revealing the scandal, and a year later the social prize of excellence by Ometz.

In May 2012 Hendel was appointed head of the Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS). Hendel also serves as an executive member of Hashomer Hachadash, which engages in the protection of agricultural lands. He is a member of Beit Hillel Rabbis, Natal, the board of governors of Bishvil Hamachar, and is a social activist in other organizations.

Hendel is a self-described liberal nationalist with a right wing pragmatic approach. His name was mentioned as a candidate for the 2013 and 2015 national elections, but he denied the offers claiming that he “wanted to make a difference from the outside.”

In March 2013 the IZS, with Hendel as chairman, announced the establishment of a human rights organization called The Blue and White Human Rights Association. Hendel argues in his columns that the real right to the Land of Israel is accompanied by a moral debt. During the establishment conference, it was argued that Zionism is not a monopoly of the right and human rights are not a monopoly of the left. The organization intends to operate at the crossings checkpoints where the IDF is present, to assist at points of friction, in schools to educate on the importance of purity of arms and with the help of a group of physicians, to provide free medical treatment regardless of religion, race or sex. Unlike other human rights organizations operating in the territories, the policy is not to provide information to the media about human rights violations, but to give the information to the army's authorized investigations. The human rights organization by Hendel deals with public relations on behalf of Israel, and presents the "efforts and the great moral advantage" of the Zionist movement.

At the 2013 Herzliya Conference Hendel claimed that he supports maximum separation from the Palestinians, but does not see any possibility of fulfilling a peace agreement in this generation. Hendel suggested annexing the settlement bloc and Jordan Valley, giving citizenship to the Arabs living there and, in return, increasing the Palestinian Authority areas from A to B, to create a continuous Palestinian zone and upgrade their political status, calling his proposal “maximizing the Israeli consensus and minimizing the boundaries of dispute.” In an interview to Sarah Haetzni-Cohen, Hendel said that there is no “ultimate solution to the dispute” and suggested a quasi-“limited Alon project.”

Books

Articles