Dr Shahar Burla is a Sydney-based researcher, lecturer and a Contributing Editor for Plus61J. Shahar holds a Master’s degree in political science from the Hebrew University and a PhD in political science from Bar-Ilan University. He is the author of Political Imagination in the Diaspora: The Construction of a Pro-Israeli Narrative (2013) and co-editor of Australia and Israel: A Diasporic, Cultural and Political Relationship (2015). He has received several awards, including a President’s Fellowship for outstanding PhD student and the Menahem Begin Foundation Academic Award.