Dr. Ofir Hadad
Department of Political Science
Dr. Ofir Hadad is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, specializing in the politics of symbolic landscapes in divided cities. He previously worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on an ISF-funded project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University's Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR). During his postdoctoral studies, Ofir was also an ISEF Foundation International Fellow and a recipient of the BFHU Scholarship. His main research interests include law and politics, national security, and violent conflict. In addition to his research work, Ofir serves as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Political Science and the Swiss Center for Conflict Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ofir completed his Ph.D. as part of the Advanced Graduate-Research Program of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Telem) and was a fellow of the multidisciplinary international Ph.D. program “Human Rights under Pressure,” a joint program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Free University of Berlin. Ofir’s doctoral thesis examined the role of political and legal discourse in shaping Israel’s immigration policy toward former security collaborators. During his doctoral studies, Ofir received the President of Israel Scholarship for Academic Excellence and Innovation and was the first fellow of the American Friends of Yitzhak Rabin Fund.
Ofir holds an M.A. (magna cum laude) in Political Science and an LL.B. (magna cum laude) in Law combined with the Interdisciplinary Honors Program of the Humanities (Amirim), both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his internship at the State Attorney’s Office and qualified to practice law. Alongside his academic work, Ofir serves as the head of the Diversity Programs for Research Students in the Unit for Diversity & Inclusion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and directs the scholarship program “Firsts to Research” for first-generation graduate students. Previously, Ofir was the co-founder and the first academic coordinator of the master's program “Law, Governance & Society” of the Department of Political Science in collaboration with the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
For his recent publications, see:
Hadad, Ofir and Oren Barak. 2025. “Toponyms and Political Control in Divided Cities: The Case of Jerusalem’s Neighborhood Names,” Political Geography 119: 1–10.
Hadad, Ofir and Menachem Hofnung. 2024. “Judicial Framing and Immigration Policymaking: Israel’s Policy toward Self-Claiming Palestinian Informers,” International Migration Review 58(2): 964-988.
Hofnung, Menachem and Ofir Hadad. 2023. “Latent Judicial Intervention: The Case of Self-Claiming Palestinian Informers,” Journal of Law and Courts 11(1): 187-206.
Hadad, Ofir. 2021. “A Battle of Names: Hamas and Israeli Operations in the Gaza Strip,” Terrorism and Political Violence 33(5): 931-950.
For selected publications in the media, see:
“Between ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ and ‘Iron Swords’: The Symbolic Aspects of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War,” The Seventh Eye.
“The Twilight Zone: The Unknown Lives of the 'Threatened' Palestinians in Israel,” Forbes Magazine.
“5 Years for ‘Tzuk Eitan’: The Names Given by Hamas to IDF Operations in Gaza and What They Mean,” Mako.