Yoav Sivan is a journalist, political consultant and human rights activist based in Tel Aviv. Yoav's columns on American, Israeli and European politics have appeared in Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, The Irish Times, Alternatives Internationales-Liberation and New York's Gay City News. He has been quoted in The Economist among other publications.

In Israel, he has served as a staff member for two members of the Knesset. He was previously the head of the international news division of Attention America, a U.S.-based political consulting and communications firm.

Yoav's human rights work has been national and international. He currently serves a member of the Israeli Board of Directors of the World Jewish Congress. He has served as LGBT Coordinator of the International Union of Socialist Youth, and on the Boards of two leading organizations in Israel: the Jerusalem Open House and the Aguda, Israel's LGBT Association.

Yoav has studied economics, accounting and philosophy at Tel Aviv University, where he received his B.A., and at the graduate level at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He has spoken at conferences throughout Israel, Europe and the United States, including at the annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee and the annual convention of the French Socialist Party, where he participated in a forum on Israel's Second Lebanon War. It was the first time an Israeli and a Lebanese shared a stage to talk about the war.

Yoav's website is www.yoavsivan.com.

Blog Entries by Yoav Sivan

Bringing Regret Out of the Closet

2 Comments | Posted August 9, 2009 | 01:05 AM (EST)


I usually have no interest in trying to understand the political and spiritual leaders who excel in fanning the flames of hatred against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Their xenophobic language disgusts me and is not worthy of response, only of condemnation. Today, however, I would give...

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The Potential Romance Between Obama and Netanyahu

1 Comments | Posted May 26, 2009 | 03:02 AM (EST)


If you expected a clash between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama in their first official meeting this week, you may need to wait. Though their first date produced no sparks, it went well enough to pursue a courtship.

And that's in the interest of both leaders....

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Bias in black and white

Posted April 9, 2009 | 01:46 PM (EST)


Imagine that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero relied exclusively for his knowledge of Middle East affairs on El Pais, his country's flagship newspaper. During his visit to Israel in January, he might have been bewildered when he arrived in the capital for meetings. What are we doing in...

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Iranian Santa

Posted December 31, 2008 | 08:06 AM (EST)


Admittedly, my being Israeli and gay does not increase my likelihood of wanting to hear a Christmas greeting by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Though I do not know whom he hates more -- gays or Israelis -- I happen to belong to both groups. So there's very little doubt as...

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President Obama: Israel Is Ready for You

Posted November 4, 2008 | 11:53 PM (EST)


The election of Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States is good news for Israel.

After eight years of failed American policy in the Middle East, President Obama has the chance to reassert constructive American leadership in one of the most complex geopolitical regions of the...

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What Obama Must Do in Israel

Posted September 19, 2008 | 04:53 PM (EST)


Never mind that every Republican Presidential nominee in the past four elections has captured less than a quarter of the Jewish vote, down from an estimated 40 percent of the Jewish vote in 1980. In a Presidential election expected to be close, a shift of just one or two percentage...

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