Mr. Yosef Mahfoud Levi
Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Reichman University & Specialist in interpersonal interaction and negotiation
Mr. Yosef Mahfoud Levi is a specialist in interpersonal interaction and negotiation in Arab-Islamic culture, a lecturer on Arabic language, Arab culture, and Islam, and an advisor to organizations in the public and private sectors in Israel and in various countries around the world.
Yosef’s work focuses on decoding the cultural, linguistic, social, and religious codes that shape communication, decision-making, trust-building, negotiation, and behavior in the Arab and Islamic sphere. He works at the intersection of language, culture, religion, and interpersonal interaction, based on the understanding that in the Middle East, words, gestures, symbols, religious texts, and structures of honor are not merely cultural expressions, but practical tools for understanding intentions, relationships, perceptions of honor, trust-building, influence, and decision-making.
Yosef’s work focuses on decoding the cultural, linguistic, social, and religious codes that shape communication, decision-making, trust-building, negotiation, and behavior in the Arab and Islamic sphere. He works at the intersection of language, culture, religion, and interpersonal interaction, based on the understanding that in the Middle East, words, gestures, symbols, religious texts, and structures of honor are not merely cultural expressions, but practical tools for understanding intentions, relationships, perceptions of honor, trust-building, influence, and decision-making.
Mr. Levi lectures on Arabic language, Arab culture, and Islam in the Argov Program in Leadership and Diplomacy at Reichman University and in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He also serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Sheleg Chair for Crisis Research at Reichman University. As part of his academic and professional work, he engages in in-depth analysis of interactions in the Arab-Islamic sphere, with an emphasis on negotiation, crisis management, intercultural communication, processes of radicalization, religious-social discourse, and the ways in which language, symbols, and traditions shape perceptions and behavior.
Alongside his academic work, Mr. Levi is the founder and CEO of INSIJAM C.L.S., a unique company dedicated to consulting, training, and capacity-building in the fields of intercultural communication, the Arabic language, and interaction with Arab society and the Middle East.
The company works to create deep understanding between different cultural worlds through language, context, trust, and an accurate reading of human reality.
Mr. Levi combines academic knowledge, a high level of proficiency in both Modern Standard Arabic and spoken Arabic, deep familiarity with Islamic and Arab sources, and practical experience in making complex cultural knowledge accessible to professional audiences. His areas of expertise include, among others, Arab-Islamic negotiation culture, dynamics of honor and humiliation, face-saving, trust, indirect communication, religious-cultural rhetoric, and the ways in which the interpretation of concepts from Islam and Arab tradition shapes
personal, social, and political behavior.
In his role as a fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University, Mr. Levi brings a unique research-based and applied perspective to understanding the Arab-Islamic sphere through language, culture, religion, and interpersonal codes. His
contribution focuses on decoding the worlds of meaning within which messages, identities, trust-building, authority relations, and decision-making processes are formed. This approach enables a deeper understanding of crises, processes of radicalization, dynamics of influence,
collective behavior, and trust-building with partners — not only through political or security analysis, but through an understanding of the cultural and human context from which they emerge.
