About
ALMA is an apolitical non-profit association established in March 2010 with the prime objective of promoting knowledge of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Israeli society. We believe that knowledge of IHL should be accessible to the general public, and the promotion of IHL will encourage fruitful discussions on its impact and application within the Israeli society.
The members of ALMA are among the most promising young scholars and professionals in Israel. ALMA members include researchers at leading think tanks, legal advisers to governmental ministries, current and past counselors to international tribunals and PhD candidates in leading academic institutions. All members of the association are involved and contribute to ALMA's activities on a volunteer-only basis.
Since its establishment ALMA has fruitfully cooperated with leading academic institutions and professional circles in Israel and abroad, and has established itself as a leading organization in the field of IHL in Israel. ALMA is constantly seeking further cooperations to promote its goals.
Executive Board
Chairperson - Dr. Ido Rosenzweig - Director of Research (Belligerencies, Terrorism, and Cyber) and a Research Fellow at the Minerva Center for the Study of Law under Extreme Conditions, at the University of Haifa since 2014. He is an international lawyer with both practical and academic expertise in international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Ido served in the International Law Department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2008, and worked as a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute in the Terrorism and Democracy Research Division between 2009 and 2014. He has taught and trained students in international law in several academic institutions, and has submitted several amicus curiae briefs to national and international courts (including the ICC at the Ntaganda case, and the ECCC).
Ido has earned his PhD in international law (2022) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His dissertation titled: The Humanization of Combatants: The Right to Life of Combatants under International law. The PhD was written under the guidance of Prof. Yuval Shany (Hebrew University), and Prof. Noam Lubell (Essex University). For his dissertation Ido has received the Malcolm and Judith Shaw Prize for an outstanding doctoral dissertation in the field of public international law and/or human rights.
Member of the Israeli Bar since 2007
The Projects of Ido Rosenzweig:
Editor of IHL articles on website.
Online IHL Lexicon
Fundraising.
Executive Secretary, Adv. Hila Adler - a PhD candidate in the Hebrew University on Cyber Warfare. Hila holds law degrees from Hebrew University (LL.B and LL.M Cum Lauda). Major (res.) Hila Adler served at the IDF Military Advocate General's Corps. In her last position she was the Head of the International Law Section at the IDF School of Military Law. In charge on the dissemination of IHL at the IDF, teaching verious courses and developing teaching materials and interactive softwares. Lectures of Academic LOAC courses at the military academies. Previous editor of IDF Law Review (Hebrew & English versions). Previously served as Assistant to the Legal Advisor of Judea & Samaria. Member of the Israeli Bar Association (since 1998). Between 1995-1997 Hila worked in the Treaties Divisions of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Acted as Judge at the third National Competition on IHL (2009).
Adv. Yael Vias Gvirsman - Yael is the Director and Founder of the first and only International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic in Israel, based at the Radzyner Law School, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. She has been working on Defence at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since 2011. She is completing her PhD on the Role of International Criminal Justice in Times of Conflict- Intervention, Legitimacy and Notions of Justice at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Having completed her Legal education in France and The Netherlands, Yael holds an LL.B, a Maitrise in law and a French Masters in International Relations (DESS). She was accepted to the Israeli Bar Association in 2006 after completing a legal traineeship with the International Law Department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Legal Advisor's Office. Yael worked as a prosecutor with the State Attorney's office in Jerusalem, dealing mainly with extradition cases, mutual assistance and universal jurisdiction. In parallel to starting her PhD in September 2007, Yael worked as an Eligibilty and Legal Officer with the UNHCR office in Tel Aviv. From April 2008 onwards, she participated as a researcher in various research projects in international criminal law, international humanitarian law and human rights.
The Projects of Yael Vias Gvirsman:
National Competition for Students on International Criminal Law
More ALMA Members
Adv. Tom Gal - a PhD candidate in International Criminal and Humanitarian Law at the University of Geneva. Tom holds an LL.B degree combined with International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2009) and an LL.M in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (2011, with distinction). Tom was admitted to the Israeli Bar Association in 2010, after completing a legal traineeship at the administrative and public law litigation department in Eliad Shraga & Co. Law Firm, Tel Aviv. She has interned as well at the Israeli Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva. She was the World Jewish Congress representative to the UN in Geneva (2014-2015) and the main representative of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists to the Human Rights Council (2012-2014). She is currently working as a teaching and research assistant at the Geneva Academy for Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. In 2007, Tom participated in the first national competition on IHL and won both awards: the Winning Team award and the Uriel Massad for best speaker award. In 2008 Tom was a member of the first Israeli team that participated in the Jean Pictet international competition on IHL and reached the semi-final of the competition. Since then, Tom coached the Hebrew University teams for the 2008 and 2009 editions of the National Competition. She was also a tutor at the 2011 edition of the Jean Pictet international competition, on behalf of the Jean Pictet Committee.
Adv. Yfat Barak-Cheney - Holds an LL.M in International Legal Studies from New York University where she was a transitional justice scholar and an International Law and Human Rights Fellow. She also has an LL.M cum laude in International Law and Human Rights, L.L.B and a B.A in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prior to this, Yfat clerked with the International Law Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and interned with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She also spent a year as a fellow with the criminal justice department of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in New York and several months with the ICTJ Bogotá office. Yfat was a student editor of the international journal "Israel Law Review" and participated in unique projects relating to International Law. She participated in the Jean Pictet competition in 2009 and was an official trainer for the competition in 2012. She also worked with the Ministry of Justice Unit for Combating Human Trafficking. She is a Member of the Israeli Bar Association (since 2011).
The Projects of Yfat Barak:
Member of ALMA's Audit Committee
Young Researchers Forum
Dr. Sigall Horovitz - Dr. Sigall Horovitz heads the department of Human Rights Education at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy in Germany, and is an Associate Research Fellow at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her areas of practice and research are international criminal law and transitional justice. Dr. Horovitz publishes, teaches, and directs projects on these areas, and initiated the transitional justice programs at both Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She also served as a Legal Officer at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Dr. Horovitz holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the Hebrew University. Her doctorate focused on the ICTR’s impact on national reconciliation in Rwanda, and formed part of a larger ERC-funded research on the Effectiveness of International Courts that was supervised by Prof. Yuval Shany. Dr. Horovitz completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Hebrew University’s Truman Institute and at the University of Haifa’s Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions. She was also a visiting fellow at Marburg University in Germany, where she was affiliated with a special transitional justice project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (“Re-Configurations”).
Dr. Horovitz is the recipient of a number of awards including the Arthur Helton Fellowship of the American Society of International Law (2013), the Rabin Scholarship of the Hebrew University’s Truman Institute (2013-2014), the Vodoz Prize of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Contemporary Jewry (2012), and the Prize for Distinguished Academic Work from the Israeli Law and Society Association (2014). She is a member of the New York and Israeli Bar Associations, and a founding member of ALMA - the Association for the Promotion of International Humanitarian Law.
Katja Knoechelmann – Katja holds an MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also earned a MA in Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, and a BA in Government (cum laude) from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. As part of the IDC team she won the 2011 edition of the Jean Pictet International Humanitarian Law competition in France and returned to the competition in 2014 in the capacity of tutor. She was one of the founders of Model United Nations activities in Israel and led the national movement for two years.
Katja was a research fellow in the Europe sub-committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and in 2013 completed a consultancy for the British Armed Forces in Helmand, Afghanistan, creating a system to measure the effectiveness of military stabilization efforts at tactical level. She is currently a consultant at the ICRC delegation for Israel and the occupied territories.
Adv. Rachel Friedman - Qualified as a lawyer in both Canada and Israel, Rachel currently practices law at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, based in Tel Aviv. Rachel previously worked as a Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 2006-2013. After moving to Israel, she completed her legal traineeship at the Department of Special International Affairs of the Ministry of Justice. Rachel earned her Juris Doctorate at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University (Toronto, Canada) in 2003, and a Specialized Honours B.A. in Economics and Political Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2000.
Adv. Shani Dann - Shani holds an LL.B and a B.A in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was admitted to the Israeli Bar Association in 2017, after completing her internship at the International law Department at the Ministry of Justice. She has also interned at the International Humanitarian Law Legal Department of the American Red Cross and participated in the public international law course at the Hague Academy of International Law. Shani participated in the national competition on IHL in 2015 and in the Jean Pictet international competition on IHL in 2016.
Adv. Shaked Zeierman
The Projects of Shaked Zeierman:
ALMA's Social Media Coordinator
Adv. Nina Yaralova Salzillo
ALMA Staff
Or Halperin - ALMA's IHL Competition Coordinator
Founding Members
Ady Niv
Yael Vias-Gvirsman
Tom Gal
Hila Adler
Carmel Shenkar
Yfat Barak-Cheney
Yael Cohen-Rimer
Sigall Horovitz
Ido Rosenzweig
Acknowledgements
Designs (Logo, Buisness cards, Letterhead Design) - Saana Essel - saanae@gmail.com.
Accounting - Krelman C.P.A (Isr)
Website Manager - Naama Estreich
Graphic Design - Ariel Gal - arielgal.work@gmail.com