Alisa Rubin Peled, a senior lecturer at Reichman University’s Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy, is the founding academic director of the university’s Argov Fellows Program in Leadership and Diplomacy.
Peled was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Rockville, Maryland, where she attended the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. She received a BA summa cum laude from Yale University in 1987; an MA from Harvard University in 1989; a PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard in 1995; and a second MA in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in 1998.
She is currently writing a book on the relationship between American universities and the Gulf States.
The Magazine recently sat down with Peled to discuss academia and democracy at her university office in Herzliya.
You have been associated with Harvard University for over 35 years, and this quote of yours recently appeared in the November-December issue of Harvard Magazine: “Harvard is deservedly losing its reputation as one of the world’s great universities.” What did you mean?
I was responding to the article, “Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard” (Harvard Magazine, September-October 2025 issue), which portrayed the representatives of 33 student organizations as victims because their identities had been revealed after they co-signed a letter on October 8, 2023, holding the “Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Great universities should not tolerate antisemitism. In December 2023, Harvard president Claudine Gay was asked in a congressional hearing: “Do calls for the genocide of Jews constitute harassment under university policy? Her response was: “It depends on the context.” After a public outcry, she resigned in January 2024.
Can you share some insights from the book you are writing?
My research examines the two-way relationship between American universities and the Gulf states of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. What began as export of American branch campuses to the Gulf states ended up with those same states investing millions into American universities in a non-transparent way. I look at both sides of this phenomenon and how it has influenced the higher education landscape in the United States. What could have been seen at the start as a transfer of Western values, such as academic freedom to the Gulf, in the end turned out to result in the erosion of those values on American campuses.
The tagline for Reichman University reads: "Live in Israel. Study in English." What does this mean?
It means that a high school senior in the US today, who applies in English for a place in the 2026-27 first-year class at Reichman University, and is accepted, can complete a bachelor’s degree – after studying entirely in English – in three years. We are officially recognized as a university by the Council for Higher Education in the US, and we are the only private university in Israel. We have approximately 8,400 students, including around 2,500 international students from more than 90 countries. I joined the faculty in 2003, when the school was still called the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC). That’s what attracted me. It was and is interdisciplinary. And so am I.
What is the Argov Fellows Program in Leadership and Diplomacy?
It’s a year-long honors program conducted in English, designed to prepare 20 of our university’s most exceptional students in their final undergraduate year for future leadership roles in Israel and the Jewish world. Our university’s motto is Liberty and Responsibility. To date, nearly 450 fellows have graduated and are part of a thriving Argov Alumni Association. The program was founded in 2006 by Gideon Argov in memory of his father, ambassador Shlomo Argov, the Israeli diplomat who was shot and critically wounded by Palestinian terrorists in London in 1982.[The assassination attempt on Argov led to the First Lebanon War.] We are an apolitical program, where students learn to work together despite differences, setting an example for a more unified Israeli society. Personally, I think our country needs more young people in government, maybe even a Youth Party.
What are some success stories about Argov graduates?
Israel Zari is now the deputy mayor of Ramat Gan and has been a member of the Ramat Gan City Council since 2018. Ehud Lazar was the CEO of the Herzliya municipality. Two Rhodes scholars – Eden Amare Yitbarek and Eden Raviv – have come from our university, and both came from the Argov program.
Do you know of any romantic connections from the Argov program?
I know at least three couples who met in the program and are now married with children. Without Argov, they probably would never have met, because the participants are so diverse.
You recently wrote on the topic: “Post-COVID-19 democracy: Can we avoid ubiquitous surveillance?” What’s your answer – yes or no?
Yes, but… During the COVID pandemic, mass surveillance enabled the government to trace and track the spread of the virus. However, emergency powers often outlive their emergencies. We must now consider the erosion of civil liberties – especially privacy – which is the cornerstone of liberal democracy.
Who or what influenced you to make aliyah?
Most of all, my parents, who always dreamed of making aliyah. They took me to Israel when I was five, and we returned often. After my dad retired, my parents bought an apartment in Jerusalem and a home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and began splitting their time between the two. My day school also had a very positive influence. We finished 12th grade in December and then spent six months in Israel. Several of my former classmates are living here today,
Have your parents’ feelings passed on to your children?
I am blessed with four children, and all of them currently live in Israel.
You have a busy life, with your family, your university teaching, and the book you’re writing. Do you have time for any hobbies or outside interests?
I love photography, which I inherited from my father. I love running and am especially proud of the time I ran the Tel Aviv half-marathon with a group of Argov Fellows, raising over NIS 350,00 for the non-profit Erez Foundation. And I love baking. My specialty is chocolate chip cookies, which I enjoy baking for my students.
Where else would you find a university scholar who bakes chocolate chip cookies for her students? ■
ALISA RUBIN PELED
FROM BOSTON TO RA’ANANA, 1995