Raphael Cohen-Almagor

Key research finding 1: Patient-Physician Relationship Cohen-Almagor has developed a right-to-die theory that: i) supports physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and opposes euthanasia; ii) has surveyed existing policies in countries that have legislated euthanasia; iii) called for socially responsible terminology and policies; and iv) raised concrete concerns regarding trust between physicians and patients where euthanasia is legally permitted. The underpinning research focuses on the responsibilities of physicians to their patients, and whether physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia should be a part of good doctoring. Further, the research weighs patients’ autonomy and good doctoring at the end of life and demonstrates the power of law to shape policies as well as its limitations. The Israel Dying Patient Law that Cohen-Almagor co-drafted made a substantial impact on patient-physician relationships and in promoting patient's autonomy and decision-making capacity. By July 2019, 22,000 people signed advance directives and deposited them in the Ministry of Health depository.

Raphael has served in various organisations, including as chairperson of “The Second Generation to the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance” Organization in Israel; founder and director of the Medical Ethics Think-tank at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute; member of the Israel Press Council, chairperson of library and information studies, and founder and director of Center for Democratic Studies, both at the University of Haifa. Cohen-Almagor was the Yitzhak Rabin – Fulbright Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law and Dept. of Communication, visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Presently he is chair in politics at the University of Hull, United Kingdom, and director of the Middle East Study Group. In 2008–2009 he served as acting deputy dean for research at Hull Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Professor Cohen-Almagor has published numerous articles and book chapters in the fields of political science, law, Israel studies, philosophy, media ethics, medical ethics, education, sociology, and history. Since 2000, he has been writing a monthly blog on Israeli politics, human rights concerns, scientific developments, the arts and other issues.

Cohen-Almagor was a visiting fellow, the Hastings Center, New York in 1994 and 1999; visiting scholar, Oxford University in 1997; visiting scholar, Department of Metamedica, Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam in 1999 and 2002; Visiting Fulbright – Yitzhak Rabin Professor, UCLA School of Law in 1999–2000; resident fellow at The Rockefeller Foundation Center, Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy in 2002; visiting professor, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., in 2003–2004; distinguished visiting scholar, University of Manitoba School of Law, Winnipeg in 2004; resident fellow at The Bogliasco Foundation, Liguria Study Center in Bogliasco, Italy in 2005; Fellow at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., in 2007–2008; visiting scholar at Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Spain in 2015; Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria in 2015; visiting scholar, Institute for Biomedical Ethics, Universität Basel, Switzerland in 2016; visiting professor, Nirma University, Institute of Law, India in 2018; visiting scholar, Department of Philosophy, University of Zurich in 2018. Cohen-Almagor received the UCL Distinguished Visiting Professorship in 2019.

Cohen-Almagor received his D.Phil. in political theory from Oxford University in 1991, and his B.A. and M.A. from Tel Aviv University (both magna cum laude). In 1992–1995 he lectured at the Hebrew University Law Faculty. In 1995–2007 he taught at the University of Haifa Law School, Department of Communication, and Library and Information Studies University of Haifa. In 2019, he was distinguished visiting professor to the Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL).

In 1983, together with a small group of people Cohen-Almagor established “The Second Generation to the Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance” Organization in Israel designated to educate the youth about the Holocaust and its lessons for humanity. Within a few years, this organisation became one of the largest NGOs in the country with more than 2000 members. Cohen-Almagor served as chairman until 1987. He says that the lessons of the Holocaust for him are to stand against injustice, protect minorities, protest against wanton persecution, and promote the rights of all humans.

Cohen-Almagor is a human rights and peace activist. He has written against administrative detention, religious coercion, discrimination against Arabs in Israel, the 1982 Lebanon War, and the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. He spoke in favour of separation between state and religion, women and minority rights, patients’ rights, a two state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. In 2000, he opened an international campaign to evacuate the Gaza Strip, seeing this move as the start of a Palestinian State (“Gaza First”). In late 2006 he called for early elections in Israel after he lost trust in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the tragic architect of the Israel-Hezbollah War. This campaign ended in February 2009, when Israel held early elections that terminated the Olmert government. In 2009, Cohen-Almagor called upon Israel to institute a national enquiry commission to address all the issues mentioned in the Goldstone Report regarding Israel's war conduct during its Cast Lead Operation (2008–2009). During 2009–2011 he was engaged in a campaign which called for a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that would bring Gilad Shalit back home. That campaign ended in October 2011, when Gilad was united with his family, and more than 1000 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails. Since 2011, Cohen-Almagor has been calling for a two state solution, believing this is the only viable and just option for both Israel and Palestine.

Since the 1980s, Cohen-Almagor has been a peace activist and in recent years he has made peace and conflict resolution the focal point of his research. Due to his involvement in politics and peace talks, he has gained invaluable insights into leaders’ thought-processing as well as access to many decision-makers, facilitators, mediators and negotiators. His research analyses the roles of international players in the context of their respective Middle East policies and bilateral relations with Israel and the Palestinians. Cohen-Almagor provides a detailed analysis of three decades of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), from the start of the Oslo process in 1993 up until present time. The inquiry relates to the design and setting of the Oslo, Stockholm and Harpsund talks, their opacity at Oslo, and the way the host countries addressed the asymmetric power relationship between the negotiating sides. The novelty of this research is that it is based on primary resources: research in archives in Oslo, London, Washington and Jerusalem as well as on semi-structured in-depth interviews with influential decision-makers from Israel, Palestine, the United States, Sweden, Norway, Egypt and the United Kingdom. Cohen-Almagor's research is informed by the experience of successful peace talks; it explains the milestones in the failed peace process between Israel and the PLO since 1993, the root causes for the failure to bring about peace, and the keys for future successful negotiations: what needs to be done in order to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Raphael Cohen-Almagor (born 1961) is an Israeli/British academic.