Mr. Barak Cohen is the coordinator of International Media Outreach for the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI). He serves as a staff writer and frequent op-ed contributor in the English-language press.
Prior to moving to Israel in 2006, Mr. Cohen served as the assistant director of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Southeast region. At the ADL, Mr. Cohen was responsible for monitoring and studying domestic terrorism and extremist groups. He conducted training for thousands of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials in the areas of extremism, radical ideology, threat assessment, and hate-symbol/tattoo identification. Mr. Cohen oversaw the Fact-Finding Committee and the Israel and International Affairs Portfolio. He was a sought-after speaker on college campuses and a panelist at the 2006 Sam Nunn Policy Forum on the impact of information and communication technologies on social justice.
Mr. Cohen was a registered mediator for the state of Georgia from 2005-2007 and served as an advisor to Congressman John Lewis on issues related to the Jewish community. In 2003, he founded the Peace By Piece Project- an experiential interfaith program for Muslim, Christian, and Jewish youth- and served as its director until his departure for Israel in 2006.
Mr. Cohen graduated as a John Dewey Scholar in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Vermont and is currently completing a MA in Conflict Research and Management from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.