Matan

Long time, no see.  Ronnie tells me that congratulations are in order and that you are to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel - mazal tov!  I also gather that we will not be losing you elsewhere either so it is good news all round. We must get all together and celebrate sometime soon :-)

I wanted to seek your advice on something. My research is now starting to move from the theoretical into the observational phase and I am in the process of drawing up some Terms of Reference for the data gathering element (these are for myself really, but they also serve to provide some structure and help to inform my supervisory panel what I am doing). Part of this process is getting ethical approval from the university and this got me thinking about how I might try to put my research, and in particular my interviews, on a more official footing with the IDF.

A while ago I met up with Meytal Eran Jona who is the head of the research center, Israel Defence Intelligence, Research and Analysis Division, IDF. I don’t know if you know her? At the time I did discuss with her if it would be possible to obtain approval to interview serving personnel and she told me that to do this I would need to obtain permission from the IDF spokesman, but I have not followed up on this yet as I have not reached a position to detail the questions that I would want to ask. However, it occurred to me that it would be useful to try to get some form of general IDF approval for the overall research project and wondered who I might be best talking to about this. What I had in mind was perhaps just giving a short explanation of what I am trying to achieve, answering any questions and receiving guidance, with the aim of perhaps gaining at least an unofficial approval, if not actual official sanction. I wondered what your thoughts were on this, and if you had any ideas on who I might approach with this.

I have copied the Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in on this just so that she is aware of my contact with you!

Best wishes, and once again many congratulations on the forthcoming promotion and a new appointment.

Ian