MITZPE INSTITUTE — FELLOWS & ADVISORS
Cleared for editorial use. Full profiles: mitzpe.org/fellows
Media contact: press@mitzpe.org

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ALON PENZEL  (Fellow)
Founding Fellow, Mitzpe Institute
Headshot: Headshots/Alon Penzel Headshot.jpg

SHORT BIO
Israeli author, journalist, and former IDF foreign-press spokesperson, whose bestselling
Testimonies Without Boundaries anchors Mitzpe's commitment to firsthand sourcing.

FULL BIO
Alon Penzel is an Israeli author, journalist, television anchor, and spokesperson. At
twenty-five, he has published two books, served as an IDF spokesperson for the foreign
press within the Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories
(COGAT), and traveled extensively to address campus audiences, diplomats, and decision-
makers on Israel's security posture and the rise of antisemitism. He holds the paid
appointment of Israeli delegate to the European Students' Union, representing 390,000
Israeli students in higher education, and is frequently called upon to represent the State
of Israel at global conferences.

Penzel published his first book at sixteen. He received the Ramon Award for excellence and
leadership, completed a negotiation course at Harvard University, and is currently reading
political science at the University of Haifa.

His second book, *Testimonies Without Boundaries: Israel — October 7th, 2023*, is the
first comprehensive, verified documentary record of firsthand accounts from the October 7
massacre. It draws on exclusive interviews and field documentation from survivors,
recovery and rescue forces, and medical and forensic teams. The book is a bestseller in
nine countries, is available in seven languages, and reached #1 on Amazon in multiple
categories. Mitzpe Press publishes a new edition as the fourth title in its launch
catalog.

Since October 7, Penzel has spoken at universities, parliaments, synagogues, and private
forums across North America, Europe, and Israel. His work addresses the documentary record
of the massacre, the rise of campus antisemitism, and the strategic case for Israel in
Western public discourse.

Penzel's work at Mitzpe anchors the institute's commitment to firsthand sourcing. The
analytical floor of every Mitzpe publication rests on verified evidence over secondhand
narrative — and Penzel's fieldwork is one of the institute's primary demonstrations of
that standard.

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CHERYL DORCHINSKY  (Advisor)
Senior Advisor, Community Advocacy — Mitzpe Institute
Headshot: Headshots/Cheryl Dorchinsky Headshot.jpg

SHORT BIO
Founding executive director of the Atlanta Israel Coalition, advising Mitzpe on diaspora
community mobilization and the operational advisory practice for Israel-supporting
nonprofits.

FULL BIO
Cheryl Dorchinsky is a Senior Advisor for Community Advocacy at Mitzpe Institute. She is
the founding executive director of the Atlanta Israel Coalition, a nonpartisan, multi-
faith grassroots advocacy organization she built from the ground in 2018 after two decades
in corporate human resources and talent management.

Under Dorchinsky's leadership, AIC has organized more than 200 educational programs,
rallies, and international initiatives across the American Southeast and beyond. Her
signature projects include a multi-faith Zionist mission to Israel, a virtual Israel tour
series during the pandemic that reached audiences globally, and a wartime solidarity
mission in January 2024 that delivered a community-painted mural to the fortified
underground emergency hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. She organized
Atlanta's major pro-Israel solidarity rallies during the 2021 conflict alongside then-
Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon and led AIC's rapid community response after October 7.

Dorchinsky received the Zionist Legacy Award from the World Zionist Organization in 2023.
She writes for JNS and the Atlanta Jewish Times and speaks nationally on grassroots
coalition-building, antizionism in schools and progressive spaces, and community-level
advocacy strategy.

At Mitzpe, Dorchinsky advises on diaspora community mobilization and advocacy
infrastructure — the organizational ground game that translates institutional analysis
into community-level action. She also leads Mitzpe's operational advisory practice for
Jewish and Israel-supporting nonprofits, drawing directly on the operational experience of
founding and running AIC through two Gaza wars, a pandemic, and the aftermath of October
7.

Nonprofit operational advisory inquiries:
[nonprofits@mitzpe.org](mailto:nonprofits@mitzpe.org).
