Jonathan Dekel-Chen is a senior lecturer in modern history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During the 2015-16 academic year, he is an Israel Institute Visiting Professor at Columbia University. He is a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, which borders the Gaza Strip. In 2014, he co-founded the Bikurim Youth Village for the Performing Arts in Eshkol, which provides world-class artistic training for under-served high school students from all over Israel.