Who We Are

IsraelConsult, Inc. was established in September 2000. Lenny Ben-David, a former diplomat and lobbyist in Washington, serves as managing director of the subsidiary, I*Consult. As a consulting office in Washington and Jerusalem dealing with Government and Business Affairs, I*Consult serves a wide variety of American, Israeli, and international clients. I*Consult's associates and partners include leading public relations firms, consultants and lobbyists in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Tbilisi and Israel.

From August 1997 until August 2000, Ben-David served as Israel's Deputy Chief of Mission (number two diplomat) in Washington after being appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his three years in Washington, he served under three Israeli ambassadors and two Israeli prime ministers. As Deputy Chief of Mission, his duties included contact with the U.S. Executive offices of the White House, State Department and Defense Department, as well as the Legislative branch. He met regularly with other diplomatic missions in Washington and maintained ties with the American business and labor communities, the American Jewish community, and the media.

Ben-David also held senior posts in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for 25 years, in both Washington and Israel. He was hired by AIPAC founder, Si Kenen. After 10 years of service in Washington as AIPAC’s director of Information and Research, he opened AIPAC's first Israel office in 1982, directing it for almost 15 years. In that capacity, he coordinated the visits of hundreds of members of Congress and political delegations to Israel. In his role as Editor of AIPAC’s Near East Report, Ben-David authored and edited numerous editions of Myths and Facts, a fact book on the Middle East. Writing for the Near East Report, he coauthored with Kenen a regular column, “Media Monitoring.”

He attended both the Madrid and Cairo Peace Conferences as an advisor to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He has traveled throughout the Middle East and Europe, including visits to Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, and Gaza.

Ben-David is a graduate of Yeshiva University in New York. He received his Masters degree in Political Science from the American University in Washington. Ben-David’s analyses and columns have appeared in numerous American and Israeli newspapers as well as in the American Jewish press. He has appeared in television interview shows, including CNN News, PBS’ News Hour, Fox News, and CNN’s Burden of Proof.

His client list includes Conoco, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Government of Turkey, HonestReporting.Com, the Government of Georgia (former Soviet Union), Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the Begin Heritage Center, Save A Child’s Heart, Caravan for Democracy and more.

Partner

Jason Epstein founded Southfive Strategies, a Washington, DC-based limited liability company, in November 2002.

Prior to forming Southfive, Mr. Epstein served for six years as the director of legislative affairs at B’nai B’rith International. He was responsible for formulating and promoting B'nai B'rith in Congress and for reporting on the Hill events of importance to the American Jewish community. He represented the group before the White House, executive branch agencies, Senate and House leadership, foreign embassies, and nongovernmental organizations.

Before joining B’nai B’rith, Mr. Epstein worked for five years for New York Republican Congressman and then-Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Ben Gilman. Mr. Epstein obtained a law degree from American University's Washington College of Law and earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from AU’s Kogod School of Business.