Prof. Jonathan Dekel-Chen’s son, Sagui, has been held captive in Gaza for over three months. On January 8, 2024, Prof. Dekel-Chen wrote in Newsweek about the necessity of keeping hostage safety and return a priority in any peace solution for the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. You can read his article, “Hamas Has My Son. Peace Is Possible—on One Vital Condition,” in Newsweek now.
Prof. Jonathan Dekel-Chen was a visiting professor at the Columbia University Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies from 2015-2016. Prof. Dekel-Chen, an American and Israeli citizen, is currently the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet & East European Jewry at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He served as the Academic Chairman of the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry from 2009-2015 and Chairman of the Russian Studies Department and Jewish History Department. Prof. Dekel-Chen has also held visiting professorships and research fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania (2008-2009) and Rutgers University (2021-2022). His research and publications deal with the modern Jewish world, Applied Humanities, transnational philanthropy and advocacy, non-state diplomacy, agrarian history and migration.
In 2014 he co-founded the Bikurim Youth Village for the Arts in Eshkol, which provides world-class artistic training for gifted, under-served high school students from throughout Israel.
His son, Sagui, is currently held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Click this link to read Prof. Dekel-Chen’s article in Newsweek: Hamas Has My Son. Peace Is Possible—on One Vital Condition (newsweek.com)