Jewish People Policy Institute

JPPI describes itself as the only organization devoted exclusively to strategy and policy for the global Jewish people.[1] Its stated objectives are to support Jewish continuity and flourishing, cultivate pluralistic Jewish identity as culture, nation, and religion, and strengthen cohesion within Israel, among Diaspora Jews, and between Israel and the Diaspora.[6]

The institute's work is explicitly action-oriented. It identifies available strategic alternatives, analyzes their future impact, and submits policy recommendations with priorities to decision-makers and leaders — and, when appropriate, to the wider public.[6] Its stated areas of concern include Jewish identity, religion and state, antisemitism, Aliyah opportunities, and demographic trends.[1] The institute says its independence is assured by its company articles; its board of directors also serves as its professional guiding council, and it is supported by an International Board of Governors composed of public figures with varied expertise and policy experience.[6]

JPPI operates under complete professional independence, guided by a professional council organized as a board of directors that consists only of people with policy-planning experience.[7] Ambassadors Stuart Eizenstat and Dennis Ross serve as co-chairs of the board.[6]

The Jewish Agency for Israel established JPPI in March 2002 as an independent nonprofit organization to provide the Jewish people with a dedicated center for professional strategic thinking and proactive policy planning.[3] The start-up was led by chairman Ambassador Dennis Ross, founding president Professor Yehezkel Dror, and director-general Avinoam Bar-Yosef; initial work focused on establishing the institute's vision, mission, work plan, professional staff, and board of directors.[3]

An early 2003 planning paper described the institute's purpose as examining challenges, threats, and opportunities facing the Jewish people, mapping trends, and developing a strategic process for global Jewish policy planning, including linking policy planning with policymaking and preparing policy papers for decision-makers.[8] That year's agenda included an annual estimate of the situation and dynamics of the Jewish people, a Jewish-demography initiative, crisis management, and analysis of the Iraq war's implications.[8] The demographic project was headed by Sergio DellaPergola, whose alert paper — Jewish Demography: Facts, Outlook, Challenges — was published in June 2003 and described as the second in a series on challenges, threats, and opportunities facing the Jewish people.[8]

During 2005–2006, JPPI expanded its outreach by assembling a group of approximately 120 academics, professionals, and lay leaders to foster what it described as "creative synergy" for the continued thriving of the Jewish people, holding strategic brainstorming gatherings at Wye River, Maryland, in both years.[3] Following JPPI's first annual assessment presentation, the Government of Israel decided to reserve a special cabinet meeting each year for future institute presentations.[3]

In 2007, JPPI relocated from its Pinsker Street site to a building on the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University.[3] That July, it held its first Conference on the Future of the Jewish People in Jerusalem, drawing more than 150 participants from around the world. Working groups addressed issues of urgent importance and produced action-oriented policy recommendations; keynote speakers included Dennis Ross, Irwin Cotler, Yehezkel Dror, Ehud Olmert, Jehuda Reinharz, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Shimon Peres.[3]

Following the conference, President Shimon Peres engaged JPPI to plan the content of the first Israeli President's Conference, Facing Tomorrow, held in Jerusalem in May 2008 for Israel's 60th anniversary.[3] More than 5,000 people attended from 45 countries, with 35 panel discussions, more than 225 speakers, eight plenary sessions, and two special evening programs.[3] Before the conference, JPPI reconvened its group of 120 experts for intensive discussions, whose results were presented at the larger event.[3]

2009 brought significant leadership transition: founding president Yehezkel Dror retired, and Dennis Ross stepped down as chairman to take a senior position in the Obama administration.[3] Board member Steve Hoffman became interim president, Stuart Eizenstat succeeded Ross as chairman, and Maj. Gen. (res.) Farkash became president.[3] In October of that year, JPPI held a two-day brainstorming gathering in Glen Cove, New York, on the relationship among Jerusalem, Washington, and North American Jewry; Dan Shapiro of the National Security Council attended and conveyed participants' concerns to Washington.[3]

Avinoam Bar-Yosef served as JPPI's director-general from the institute's founding in 2002 and led it for eighteen years before announcing his retirement in 2019, effective October 2020.[2] During his tenure, he described the institute as having recruited strategic thinkers representing a wide range of viewpoints — "from left to right" and "from ultra-Orthodox to sworn secularists" — and as having developed a methodology for action-based policy planning and presenting alternatives.[4]

On October 26, 2020, the Jewish Agency announced that Professor Yedidia Stern had been selected as JPPI's incoming president and CEO.[4] A search committee of the Institute's Board of Directors chose him, with the selection approved by Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog.[4] Stern is a full professor in the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University.[9] In describing his planned agenda, he identified four strategic areas: Jewish society in Israel, Jewish society outside Israel, relations between those two societies, and relations between Jews and the non-Jewish world.[1]

The institute's International Board of Governors includes public figures with varied expertise and policy experience, and its professional guiding council is composed exclusively of people with policy-planning backgrounds.[6][7] Senior Fellow Dr. Einat Wilf, a former chair of Knesset committees and member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is among the institute's affiliated scholars.[10]

The Annual Assessment of the Situation and Dynamics of the Jewish People is JPPI's flagship publication, presented to Israel's president and government each year since 2004.[4][5] The assessment reviews geopolitical realities and the standing of the Jewish people on key issues, including antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel, Aliyah opportunities, demographic trends in the Jewish world, and ongoing dialogue between global Jewry and Israel.[4] It functions both as a review of events and developments affecting Israel and the Jewish world and as a forward-looking effort to monitor trends and influence their direction.[11]

The 2025 Annual Assessment (for 5785/2024–25) was presented to President Isaac Herzog and the Israeli government and examined Jewish well-being across six dimensions: demography, cohesion, geopolitics, Israel–U.S. relations, resilience, and identity.[5] The report described negative or worsening trends in nearly all indicators, citing rising emigration among young secular Israelis, renewed polarization after the unity that followed October 7, 2023, growing international isolation for Israel, increased pressure on resilience from antisemitism and international legal challenges, and growing alienation among some younger and progressive Diaspora Jews.[5]

The 2024 Annual Assessment, titled A Year of War, examined antisemitism, geopolitical shifts, and social tensions following October 7.[12] It reported sharp increases in violent antisemitic assaults: 45% in the United States, 84% in France, and 96% in the United Kingdom.[12] The report also found that a third of Israeli Jews had changed travel plans because of safety concerns, and approximately 57% of American Jews were more inclined to send their children to Jewish day schools.[12] The 2024 assessment further noted that 95% of Israeli Jews believed Israel should do more to strengthen Jewish identity in the Diaspora, while 44% supported subsidized tuition for Jewish students from abroad who study in Israel.[12]

The 2023 assessment set out core objectives including ensuring Jewish continuity and prosperity, cultivating pluralistic Jewish identity, and strengthening cohesion within Israel, among Diaspora Jews, and between Israel and the Diaspora.[13] It appeared amid turmoil over judicial reform and religion-and-state disputes, and reported that approximately 37% of Israelis held or planned to acquire a foreign passport with the intention of emigrating.[13] The share of Israelis uncomfortable living in Israel rose from 20% the prior year to 32%, while the share comfortable living there fell from 76% to 65% — though the assessment also recognized Israel's economic, military, and political achievements in its 75th year of independence.[13]

The 2026 Annual Assessment, published September 10, 2026, includes an expanded structure: key recommendations, six dimensions of Jewish well-being, selected indicators, a geostrategic assessment, an analysis of Israeli social cohesion, and a chapter on emigration from Israel.[14] It also covers a 2025 Jewish World Dialogue on global Jewry's attitudes toward Jewish "hard power," an antisemitism index, academic boycotts targeting Israel, U.S.–Israel relations, and Israel–European Union relations.[14] Its social-cohesion chapter presents Consensus, Emotional Proximity, and Hope indices; the 2026 Hope Index score was 7.13, up from 6.48 the previous year, while the Emotional Proximity Index fell to 5.51 from 5.95.[14]

JPPI's research portfolio spans Jewish demographics, diaspora relations, antisemitism measurement, geopolitics, and Israeli domestic society. The institute systematically analyzes challenges and opportunities facing contemporary world Jewry and builds a knowledge base about the Jewish people, with products submitted to decision-makers and, where appropriate, the wider public.[6]

On demography, Uzi Rebhun authored "Jewish People Demography, 2015" as a JPPI publication, continuing the institute's long-standing focus on population trends and their policy implications.[15] Geopolitical research has included Ambassador Avi Gil's "The Evolving World Order: Implications for Israel and the Jewish People" (2019) and Shalom Salomon Wald's "China's Rise, US Opposition, and the Implications for Israel" (2020).[16][17] Wald subsequently authored "Report: Chinese Antisemitism 2021–2025," published in February 2026.[18] A 2025 report by Dov Maimon, The Ukraine War – A Jewish and Israeli Perspective, examined the war's impact on Jewish communities in Europe and how Israel should address the resulting geopolitical changes.[19]

JPPI has also pursued Israeli domestic research. The "Pluralism Index 2023: Israelis Want a Democratic and Jewish State," authored by Shmuel Rosner, Camil Fuchs, and Noah Slepkov, examined Israeli attitudes toward the character of the state in a 20-page publication.[20] The institute's research-studies page also lists work on Zionism and anti-Zionism, October 7 and its aftermath, new expressions of Jewish life in North America, American evangelicals, Masorti identity in Israel, viewpoints of Israeli Jews on who is a Jew, American sermons and Israeli politics, and artificial intelligence.[21]

JPPI's 2017 Annual Assessment included a chapter titled "Re-emergence of a Jewish Diasporistic Identity in Europe," covering pages 147–155 of that volume and addressing Jewish identity, diaspora relations, and globalization.[22] The institute's 2017 staff publication "Shifting Trends in the West and their Impact on Israel and the Jewish People" was dated February 23, 2017.[23]

JPPI has developed a distinctive approach to measuring antisemitism, responding to what the institute identified as a fundamental methodological problem: existing indicators used different definitions and measured different things, making cross-source comparisons unreliable.[24] In its 2015 paper An Integrative Measurement of European Anti-Semitism, JPPI proposed a combined index drawing on three dimensions: anti-Jewish attitudes in the general population; the number, nature, and distribution of reported incidents; and Jewish residents' own perceptions, including whether they felt antisemitism had risen, felt unsafe, avoided places, or had considered emigration.[24]

The paper illustrated the scope of the measurement problem by comparing survey estimates that diverged sharply. A 2013 Pew survey found that 87% of Europeans held positive views of Jews, while a 2014 ADL survey found that 24% held antisemitic views; for France specifically, Pew estimated 7% while the ADL estimated 51%.[24] JPPI attributed part of the discrepancy to differences in question wording — Pew asked directly about attitudes toward Jews, while the ADL surveyed agreement with specific beliefs about Jews.[24] The paper framed its integrative index as a policy dashboard for communal leaders, Israeli policymakers, and world Jewry leaders to assess threats, monitor developments, set priorities, and evaluate interventions.[24]

The 2015 paper's country-level data on Jewish perceptions showed that 49% of French Jews had considered emigration because they did not feel safe in France, compared with 19% in the United Kingdom and 26% in Germany.[24] It also noted a discrepancy between incident rates and perceptions: reported incidents per 1,000 Jews were higher in the United Kingdom than in France, while French Jews expressed greater concern about their safety.[24] The paper described the index as "a work in progress and an invitation for further reflection."[24]

JPPI's combined antisemitism index has been cited as an example of a reliable measurement tool that uses regular, serious sources and gives greater weight to credible data measured over a long period.[25] The 2026 Annual Assessment also includes an updated antisemitism index as one of its core components.[14]

The Jewish World Dialogue is a recurring JPPI research and publication program examining the relationship between Israel and world Jewry and the internal dynamics of Jewish communities globally.[26] Documented dialogues have addressed Jerusalem and the Jewish people (2017), Israel–Diaspora relations and the next generation (2018), Haredi communities (2020), antisemitism and Jewish identity (2021), the Nation-State Law and Israel–Diaspora relations (2022), and Jewish cohesion and polarization (2023).[26] The 2023 dialogue examined polarization and uncivil discourse in Israel and Jewish communities worldwide, particularly debates about religious pluralism, the balance of power among Israel's branches of government, and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[26]

A major earlier dialogue project, "70 Years of Israel-Diaspora Relations: The Next Generation," compiled by Shmuel Rosner and John Ruskay, drew on dialogues and surveys conducted from November 2017 to March 2018.[27] It involved 675 participants in 33 international groups and ran 130 pages.[27] The project examined tensions between Israel and Diaspora communities, changes in Israel's centrality in Jewish life, and generational differences; participants were described as mostly committed both to Judaism and to the relationship with Israel.[27] Among the findings: 57% of participants said they discerned distancing between Israel and the Diaspora — 48% among Israeli participants and 60% among Diaspora participants — and 68% of U.S. Jewish participants said Israeli and Diaspora Jews were drifting apart.[27]

The 2024 Jewish World Dialogue focused on anti-Israel protests on Diaspora college campuses, with a report authored by senior JPPI fellows Shlomo Fischer and Rachel Fish and published in July 2025.[26] The report found that 78% of Jewish students surveyed reported harassment, alienation, and fear on U.S. and European campuses since the October 7 attack.[26] A related Ynet-reported study used focus groups and questionnaires with more than 100 young Diaspora Jews, most under 35, and found that 96% said they had experienced intimidation, harassment, or even attack because of their Jewishness or support for Israel; about 28% said they did not feel safe on campus, and 47% reported distancing from non-Jewish friends, colleagues, or partners.[28] The report's recommendations included more open community discussion of complex identities, deeper education about Zionism, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and steps to protect pluralism in educational and community settings.[28]

JPPI maintains two ongoing survey instruments with distinct scopes. The Voice of the Jewish People Index surveys Jews in the United States who are registered members of a panel assembled under the institute's Diane and Guilford Glazer Information and Consulting Center; the institute explicitly notes that this panel is not representative of the entire U.S. Jewish population but can be used to examine differences by religious affiliation, emotional proximity to Israel, political identity, and connection to Judaism.[29] The Israeli Society Index is a separate monthly survey of a representative sample of Israelis, Jewish and non-Jewish, on issues including security, politics, and social cohesion.[29]

JPPI surveys from 2020 through 2026 have covered subjects including Israeli society, public confidence, education, security, and Jewish-Arab relations within Israel.[30] A July 2024 JPPI survey on the Supreme Court decision concerning ultra-Orthodox military conscription found support among Jewish respondents overall at 63%, with results varying by religious identification: 82% among secular respondents, 62% among traditionalists described as "not so religious," 57% among religious traditionalists, 38% among religious respondents, and 12% among ultra-Orthodox respondents.[30]

A September 2026 JPPI poll asked Israelis how they felt about Israel's overall situation. It reported that 54% of Israeli Arab respondents and 24% of Israeli Jewish respondents said Israel was deteriorating and they were concerned the trend would continue, while 5% of Arab respondents and 43% of Jewish respondents said Israel was improving and things would get even better.[30] A July 2026 Voice of the Jewish People Index headline reported that 69% of respondents viewed a named public figure as both anti-Israel and antisemitic.[31]

JPPI's 2026 assessment, as reported by Maariv, found that 55% of Israelis identified internal polarization and disputes as the most dangerous challenge to the country's existence, compared with 23% naming the Iranian nuclear threat and 18% naming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[32] Six in ten Israelis saw a real danger of bloodshed or civil war, and 78% expressed deep concern about social cohesion ahead of the election.[32] The same assessment estimated approximately 755,000 Israelis living outside Israel — approximately one million when children born abroad were included — and described a widening rift between Israel and world Jewry; it also reported that 76% of European Jews and 55% of U.S. Jews surveyed had hidden Jewish markers or avoided places identified with Jewish communities.[32]

Concern about the Israel–Diaspora relationship has been a defining theme of JPPI's work since its founding. At the 2008 Herzliya Conference, founding president Yehezkel Dror described a growing rift between Israel and Diaspora Jewry, including a weakening of Jewish identity among Diaspora youth.[33] He attributed the divide to differences in Jewish experience and social structure, declining perceptions of Israel as a safe haven and source of pride, disagreement over Israel's religious character, and younger generations' less personal connection to the founding of Israel after the Holocaust.[33] His recommendations included having Israel consider the effects of its actions on the Jewish people as a whole; consulting prominent Diaspora leaders on decisions affecting them, including Jerusalem's future and the question of who is a Jew; and establishing a special government office for Diaspora Jewry rather than placing the matter under the Foreign Ministry, which he argued treated Diaspora Jews as though they were foreign to Israel.[33]

A 2007 analysis by the institute's founding president argued that Israel lacked a coherent policy toward the Diaspora and that this could seriously damage Israel–Diaspora relations.[34] Proposed measures included shared Jewish-people studies curricula, more public education about Jewish communities, and a broader concept of Aliyah that could include living in both Israel and the Diaspora — alongside consultation with Diaspora leaders, recognition of their right to criticize Israeli policy, and a proposed advisory "Consultative Jewish People Council" connected to the Knesset.[34]

A subsequent JPPI assessment, drawing on a representative survey of 1,070 Jews and Pew data from 4,870 self-identified Jewish adults, identified three concerning developments in Diaspora Jewry: a dilution of nonreligious Jewish identity, reduced support for Israel among the next generation, and growing political, religious, and cultural polarization among American Jews.[35] Among U.S. Jews under 30, only one-third said it was "very important" that their grandchildren be Jewish; 70% of U.S. Jews overall supported Israel, compared with 48% of young Democrats.[35] JPPI called for a government strategy to strengthen ties with Diaspora Jewry, renewed dialogue with American Jews who support the Democratic Party, and efforts related to Jewish education, antisemitism, and cooperation connected with the Abraham Accords.[35]

Beyond its focus on global Jewish affairs, JPPI has engaged with Israel's internal constitutional and governance debates. Under President Yedidia Stern, the institute has worked on a detailed proposal for a "thin constitution" to submit to whoever forms Israel's next government.[36] The project focuses on institutional procedures and the powers and relationships of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, rather than questions of state identity or values.[37] It involves a research group and an advisory council intended to reflect different parts of Israeli society — Stern described a group of thirteen people with differing religious, political, and judicial views.[37]

A December 2025 JPPI poll found that most Israelis said internal tensions posed a greater danger to the country's future than external security threats.[36] The institute's 2026 assessment dedicated a chapter to Israeli social cohesion, presenting the Consensus, Emotional Proximity, and Hope indices to track trends in national unity and public outlook.[14]

A JPPI-affiliated fellow, Dov H. Maimon, was listed among the signatories to a July 2019 statement by 136 Jewish organizations condemning boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israeli academic institutions, professors, products, and companies doing business with Israel.[38] Separately, JPPI's research portfolio has included BDS as a subject of study.[2]

JPPI's polling and dialogue findings require attention to survey scope. The Voice of the Jewish People panel is explicitly not representative of all U.S. Jews, although it can compare participating subgroups; by contrast, the Israeli Society Index is described as representative of Israeli Jews and non-Jews.[29] The publication listing for the 78% campus figure does not provide a sample size or method, while the related Ynet report describes focus groups and questionnaires involving more than 100 mostly under-35 participants; neither result should be generalized beyond its stated participants.[26][28]

Some initiatives also address politically contested questions. The institute's "thin constitution" project limits itself to governmental procedures and relations among the branches, but its rationale and design remain part of Israel's broader constitutional debate.[37] Likewise, a 2026 index headline reporting views of Mamdani supplies no survey population or methodology in the cited listing, so it is best understood as a reported headline result rather than a representative national estimate.[31]