Forum of Strategic Dialogue facilitates high-level strategic dialogues between Europe and Israel. The FSD provides a unique platform for “Track 1.5” diplomacy, beyond the constraints of formal intergovernmental relations.
Our Mission
The Forum of Strategic Dialogue (FSD) is a unique vehicle for informal consultations between Europe and Israel’s top governmental officials and experts and allows for out-of-the-box problem-solving thinking in the fields of defence, security, foreign affairs and economy. In so doing, the FSD contributes to the development of policy, based on the mutual understanding of European and Israeli strategic environments, needs and common interests.
Our Goals
Forum of Strategic Dialogues aims:
- To promote an in-depth dialogue between Israeli and European officials and experts involved mainly (but not exclusively) in the fields of national security and foreign policy.
- To enhance mutual understanding and advance joint interests.
- To establish professional ties and personal relations between decision-makers and members of the policy community.
Our History
The first Strategic Dialogue, between France and Israel, was launched by the European Leadership Network (ELNET) in 2010. The success of this event led to the development of collaboration with prestigious European and Israeli think tanks, research centres and governmental institutions, and to the establishment of the FSD in 2013 as an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit, and non-partisan entity affiliated with ELNET. ELNET works to educate policymakers and opinion leaders about the complexity of global and regional issues, foster key ties between European and Israeli leaders, and empower political advocates of the Europe-Israel relationship.
Our Reach
Today, the FSD carries out annual Israeli-European bilateral dialogues with senior partners, governmental and non-governmental, from key European countries—France, Germany, the UK, Spain, and Poland, as well as with the EU and occasionally with NATO. The FSD has also launched an annual US-Europe-Israel Trilateral Strategic Dialogue in 2018, as well as a Europe-Israel track and an annual Europe-Middle East Forum in 2020.
Executive Staff
Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin
FSD Chair
Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin served for more than a decade as Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)….
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Moreover, he served 41 years in the IDF, as a member of the General Staff, Deputy Commander of the Air Force, Commander of Combat Squadrons, and Commander of Air Force Bases. During his service in the Air Force, he crossed multiple enemy lines and participated as a combat pilot in the Yom Kippur War, in addition to taking part in attacks on nuclear reactors in Iraq. Formerly an IDF attaché to the United States, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yadlin served as Head of the Defense Intelligence Directorate from 2006-2010. In 2015, he was a candidate for defense minister of the “Zionist Union.”
Pascaline Wagemans
FSD Director
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(2013 to 2014), and an evidence-based consultant (2010 to 2011) and Business Analyst (2008 to 2009) at IMS Health, a leading global information and technology services company. Ms. Wagemans holds an MA in conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University, as well as an MA and a BA in Business Engineering from Solvay Business School.
Members
François Heisbourg
France
Chairman, Council of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; Chairman, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London; Special Adviser, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS), Paris.
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His career has included senior positions in government: Mr Heisbourg was a member of the French mission to the UN and an international Security Adviser to the Minister of Defence. He has sat on a number of national and international blue-ribbon bodies. Most recently, this included the French Defence and National Security White Paper, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, the International Commission on the Balkans, and the EU Commission’s group of personalities on security research and development.
Dr. Bruno Tertrais
France
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In 2007-2008, he was a member of the French presidential commission on the White Paper on Defence and Security, as well as a member of the French ministerial commission on the White Paper on Foreign and European policy. From October 1996 to August 2001, Dr Tertrais was Special Assistant to the Director of Strategic Affairs at the French Ministry of Defence and prior to that, a visiting fellow at the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica. He served as Director of the Civilian Affairs Committee at the NATO Assembly. He holds a Doctorate of Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. In 2010, he was awarded the Vauban Prize for his distinguished career.
Prof. Yossi Mekelberg
UK
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He has been teaching at Regent’s University since 1996, and before that at King’s College, London. He has been with the MENA Programme at Chatham House since 2002, first as an Associate Fellow and more recently as a Senior Consulting Research Fellow. His fields of expertise include the politics of the Middles East, Israeli politics, the Middle East Peace Process, international relations theory, and US foreign policy towards the region. For four years he wrote a weekly column for the Al-Arabiya network before moving to write twice a week for Arab News. He is also a member of the Human Rights Watch London Committee.