Josh Block is a veteran policy, communications and political strategist who has been involved in U.S. national politics and policy making for over 25 years.
Block’s analysis is regularly featured in US and international media outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Jerusalem Post, and The PBS Newshour.
A political appointee to the Clinton Administration, Block served as a spokesman for the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), focusing on Asia and the Near East, and economic growth and democracy promotion programs globally.
Prior to his appointment to Hudson Institute in May 2021, Block was a Senior Fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
In 2010, Block was named a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute(PPI), a Washington-based think tank, where he co-chaired the PPI-Freedom House Iran task force on Tehran’s human rights abuses and quest for regional hegemony.
Shortly after 9/11, Block joined the senior staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), where he was the group’s spokesman and director of strategic communications for a decade. From 2012 until July 2019, Block was CEO & President of The Israel Project(TIP), where he raised over $40 million dollars, modernized the organization and guided its board and staff in explaining complex policy issues to public stakeholders, including journalists, diplomats, policy makers and the public. Under his leadership, TIME MAGAZINE called The Israel Project “Israel’s most effective media advocacy organization.”
The Forward named Block as one of the 50 most influential Jewish people in America, and Foreign Policy Magazine included him in its top 100 Foreign Policy authorities on twitter (TheTwitterati100).
When Block was appointed CEO & President of TIP in 2012, AIPAC President Michael Kassen said, “TIP, as well as the pro-Israel community, will benefit greatly from [Block’s] unique ability to shape the debate and educate both policymakers and the public.”
Block got his start in Washington on Capitol Hill in the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. A Spokesman for the Clinton/Gore and Gore/Lieberman presidential campaigns, the 1996 Presidential Inaugural Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and several House and Senate races.
Block was the founder of a boutique communications firm specializing in politics and international issues, where his clients included the United Nation’s World Health Organization, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and several high-profile political and advocacy campaigns.
