Ronen Shoval

Ronen Shoval (Hebrew: רונן שובל, born 1980 in Ramat Hasharon) is an Israeli philosopher. Shoval is the Dean of the Tikvah Fund and head of the Argaman Institute. He is Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Politics at Princeton University. Shoval is married, and has five children.

Ronen holds a B.A. in international relations and an M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University. He earned a PhD in Jewish political thought from the Paris West University Nanterre La Défense^[1] (graduating summa cum laude, mentored by Shmuel Trigano).

In 2015, he was chosen as one of the Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life.

After Princeton University announced his hiring, several Princeton lecturers protested against the decision - citing Shoval's support of controversial policies by Israel's government and his past activies at Im Tirtzu.^[2]

He previously founded the extra-parliamentary right wing movement Im Tirtzu,^[3][4][5][6] and served as its first chairman (2007–2013).^[7] While Shoval headed the movement, an Israeli court ruled that the Im Tirtzu has "fascist characteristics".^[8][9] The movement was widely criticized over campaigns attacking writers and artists, which was compared to "Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist witch-hunt".^[10]

Shoval is the author of the book Herzl's Vision 2.0, a manifest for the rejuvenating Zionism (Im Tirtzu, Kochav M'Israel).^[11] He is a columnist in the Israeli newspaper Israel-Hayom and previously wrote in Haaretz, Maariv and Makor Rishon.

He was a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, at a pre-army mechina (a preparatory program), and at other colleges in Israel. He was also a research associate at the Institute for Zionist Strategies. Shoval was elected a board member of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency^[12] and Keren Hayesod.

In 2015, Shoval tried and failed to get elected to the Knesset – after reaching the 16th place in Jewish Home's primary elections. The party eventually won 8 seats, and Shoval did not become a Knesset member.

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