Edwin Black Chairs the Narrative War Panel at the 2026 JNS Summit

Amelie Botbol reported on the panel for JNS. Their recommendations included the creation of a Unified Narrative Command, modeled after the IDF’s, to coordinate efforts on the narrative warfare front.

Panel Members

Chair: Edwin Black 
Human rights author, investigative journalist, host of The Edwin Black Show.

Co-Chair: Fleur Hassan-Nahoum 
Fleur Hassan Nahoum is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Campus Israel. She is Israel’s Special Envoy for Trade and Innovation, host of “The Quad” podcast on JNS-TV and is former deputy mayor of Jerusalem. Fleur continues to be a leading voice in international diplomacy, Jewish leadership, and Israel advocacy, focused on building bridges through education, economic cooperation and global engagement. 
X Handle: @FleurHassanN; Website: www.fleurhassann.com

Ami Kozak 
Ami Kozak is a comedian, impressionist, musician and political commentator known for blending sharp satire with cultural insight. He has built a strong online presence through his viral comedic sketches, his podcast “Ami’ House” and many media appearances engaging audiences across platforms. A vocal advocate for Israel, the Jewish people and Western values, he has participated in public debates and uses humor and commentary to address complex social and political issues. 
X Handle: @amikozak; Instagram: @amikozak_official

Charles Jacobs 
Named by The Forward as one of America’s top 50 Jewish leaders, Charles Jacobs has founded human rights and pro-Israel organizations that address the most acute challenges faced by global Jewry. These include Boston’s CAMERA, The American Anti-Slavery Group, The David Project, the Jewish Leadership Project, the African Jewish Alliance and currently The International Freedom Coalition with Dr. Walid Phares. He is most well-known for traveling to Sudan’s war zones to free thousands of jihad slaves, for which he was given the Boston Freedom Award by Coretta Scott King. 
X Handle: @DrCharlesJacobs ; Website: www.internationalfreedomcoalition.org

Shabbos Kestenbaum 
Shabbos Kestenbaum is a political commentator at PragerU and former lead plaintiff in a landmark civil-rights lawsuit against Harvard University. He is a regular contributor on national media, has testified multiple times in front of the United States Congress, White House and Israeli Knesset 
X Handle: @ShabbosK; Instagram: @ShabbosKest

Daniel Rosen 
Daniel Rosen is a cofounder of Emissary4all, a movement that seeks to organize individuals into communities to combat antisemitism online and off-line. Daniel’s articles have appeared in such leading outlets as The Jerusalem Post, JNS, Arutz Sheva, The Algemeiner, the Times of Israel and the Jewish Link. You can follow him on X Handle: @and_minds33445; Instagram @mindsandheartsunite

Masha Merkulova 
Masha Merkulova is the founder and CEO of Club Z and a writer and speaker known for challenging the assumptions of the Jewish nonprofit and education worlds. Often described as raising “Zionist lions,” she has spent the past decade building a movement of teens who are intellectually grounded, unapologetically Jewish and prepared to lead. 
Instagram: @zionismforteens and @masha_merkulova_czo; Website: www.ClubZ.org

Gerald Steinberg 
Professor (emeritus) of politics at Bar Ilan University and founder/president of NGO Monitor, Steinberg specializes in the politics and propaganda of NGOs, human rights and international law, and their role in antisemitism. He publishes widely in academic journals (the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, Israel Journal of Foreign Relations) and media platforms (JNS; Telegraph-UK; The Wall Street Journal; Quillette, The Jerusalem Post.) 
X Handle: @GeraldNGOM and @NGOmonitor; website: ngo-monitor.org

Jeff Kahn 
Jeff is a strategic communications and public diplomacy expert with more than three decades of experience advising governments, international organizations, corporations and nonprofit institutions. He has served as a strategic adviser to the United Nations, the White House, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and Israel’s Ministry of Homeland Security. His expertise spans psychological warfare, crisis management, branding, media strategy and international affairs. Jeff has also held senior leadership positions in the technology and communications sectors, including roles with Cisco, BroadSoft, AudioCodes and Ruder Finn, where he advised leading global corporations and institutions.

Diane Neal 
Diane Neal is the Minister of Aliyah, having moved to Israel in 2023. She is a former actress on Law & Order SVU.