Professor Arnon Sofer, Leading Israeli Geostrategy Scholar, Dies at 90

Professor Arnon Sofer, a prominent Israeli expert in geostrategy and demography, passed away at the age of 90. He was a founding figure at the University of Haifa, where he served as head of the Geography Department and held senior academic and advisory roles. Sofer completed his doctorate at the Hebrew University in 1971, focusing on industrial location in Haifa Bay from a geographic perspective, and began teaching at the University of Haifa in 1965.

Throughout his career, Sofer extensively studied demographic trends in Israel, particularly the balance between Jewish and Arab populations and its implications for Israel's future as a Jewish nation-state. He warned as early as 2004 about demographic collapse and mass Jewish emigration. In a 2006 Ynet article, he described his long-standing concerns about demographic threats to Jewish sovereignty in the Galilee and the challenges posed by densely populated non-Jewish areas in the West Bank.

Sofer recounted advising military and political leaders, including a 1987 warning to Central Command Chief Amram Mitzna about potential unrest preceding the First Intifada. He also described a 2003 meeting with then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who acknowledged the demographic threat and requested Sofer's proposed disengagement map. In 2018, Sofer publicly opposed West Bank annexation, calling inflated Palestinian population figures "betrayal" and warning that annexation could spell Israel's demise.

Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav mourned Sofer as a deeply knowledgeable and committed intellectual who contributed significantly to the city and nation. The Haikin Institute for Geostrategy, which Sofer helped establish, praised his pioneering research on geography, demography, water, and borders, and his influence on generations of students and Israeli security leaders. Sofer's clear and candid voice shaped Israeli national and security discourse for decades.

He will be buried in Haifa on Sunday, leaving a legacy as a foundational academic and public thinker on Israel's demographic and strategic challenges.