Yossi Klein Halevi is an Israeli-American journalist, author, and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, where he focuses on Jewish peoplehood, Israeli society, and interfaith dialogue; he has also been a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. Born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, to a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor father and an American Jewish mother, he grew up in the Orthodox Borough Park neighborhood. As a teenager in the 1960s and 1970s, Halevi was active in the militant Jewish Defense League (JDL) led by Meir Kahane, participating in protests and even violent actions; he later reflected critically on this period in his memoir 'Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist' (1995) and publicly repudiated it. In 1982, he made aliyah to Israel, settling in Jerusalem, and distanced himself from extremism to pursue journalism and writing on Jewish identity, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and religion. Halevi has authored several influential books, including 'At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope in the Holy Land' (2001), exploring encounters with Christians and Muslims, and 'Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation' (2013), a narrative history of the 1967 Jerusalem reunification paratroopers and their impact on Israeli society, which won the 2013 National Jewish Book Award. His essays and opinion pieces appear in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Commentary, and Azure. As a prominent pro-Israel voice and commentator on Israeli affairs and Jewish identity, he advocates for mutual understanding between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and has been involved in initiatives like the 'To Heal a Fractured World' project at the Hartman Institute. Halevi's work often addresses controversies, including his past JDL involvement and criticisms from both left and right for his centrist views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He remains a key figure in mapping networks of Jewish and Israeli influence through his institutional roles and writings.