Many of the reasons why I hope to begin graduate school in Political Science at the age of sixty-three can be traced to my first major human, civic, and professional endeavor, my time spent in the Israeli Air Force, from 1973 through 1979. First as a student and then as a combat pilot, I thought much more about the technical aspects of my duties than I did the political ramifications. I was young and did not have much time to think about the moral issues involved in what I was doing or concern myself with the place of my nation in history. I lived in the here and now. Now, I want the balance of my life to be a quest for discovery and understanding, not so much of my own personal role, but in the unfolding of political events that have defined my era and will go on to have a great impact on the future of my children and grandchildren after I am gone.
Now, I make the most of the treasure of hindsight, unpacking or deconstructing the many complex ways in which, as a fighter pilot and flight leader, I was a small cog in the wheel of a global, multi-national conflict. My studies have a sense of urgency to me because the conflict between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors has proven to be so central and enduring to the shape of geopolitics today, continuing to threaten the entire world. The entire region is already engulfed in conflict. I watch events in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq very closely, especially Syria.
Our Air Force has always been trained to think that we are only fighting a war of self-defense, which has made things much simpler from a moral and political perspective. Now, however, at 63, I am at the top of my game in being able to see, understand, and think creatively about what Israeli fighter pilots have done and what they continue to do in terms of international politics and none of it is simple. I have devoted decades to independent study and reflection on the political and ideological questions of my day. Now, I am keener than ever to give issues of politics and history my full attention, reading, writing, publishing for another couple of decades, until the end of my days.
I graduated from Tel Aviv University Cum Laude in 1985, completing my undergraduate studies in the areas of Mathematics and Computer Science. From 1987 through 2016, I worked as a business executive helping countless people and organizations along the way with challenges and opportunities in electronics, communications, and computer technology. Now, however, I have retired from the business world. From now on, I look forward to the daily joy of learning only what I find most interesting: politics and national security, the evolution of ideology on a global scale from a critical humanist perspective that emphasizes the importance of inalienable human rights.
PHD Political Science Statement of Purpose for Grad School