Dr. Netanel Fisher

Dr. Netanel Fisher is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He earned his PhD in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2012) and subsequently held research fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and the Open University of Israel.

His research focuses on religion and politics, Israeli politics, and Jewish peoplehood, with particular emphasis on issues such as Israel’s conversion policy, ethnicity, immigration, and aliyah.

Dr. Fisher joined the department in 2025. He previously served as Chair of the Department of Public Policy at the Academic Center for Law and Science Sha'arei Mishpat, Hod HaSharon, Israel.

Dr. Fisher was also a Research Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, where he led a research group titled Converts, Returnees, and Adherents: New Ways of Joining the Jewish People. Building on this project and an international conference he co-organized, he co-edited, with Professor Tudor Parfitt, the volume Becoming Jewish: New Jews and Emerging Jewish Communities in a Globalized World (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2016).

Fisher also served as a Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, where he authored a comprehensive policy paper on Israel's conversion policy (2015) and co-edited, with Professor Yedidia Stern, the volume Israeli Conversion (IDI Press, 2018). As of 2025, he serves as a Fellow in the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Scholars Program.

Dr. Fisher has received research grants from multiple institutions, including the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (MFJC) and the Israel Institute. His article, co-authored with Dr. Avi Shilon, "Integrating Non-Jewish Immigrants and the Formation of Israel's Ethnic–Civic Nationhood: From Ben-Gurion to the Present", received the 2017 Outstanding Article Award from the journal Middle Eastern Studies.

Alongside his academic work, Dr. Fisher volunteered as Chair of the Ganim Community Council in Jerusalem (2013–2022) and advised ministers and members of Knesset in his areas of expertise. As such, he served on the advisory team of the Minister of Religious Services that drafted the Israeli government’s 2022 conversion reform bill.

Dr. Fisher teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on religion and politics, immigration and aliyah, and local governance.

For Dr. Fisher’s publications—see here