Daphna Levit was born in Israel, served in the army, and received undergraduate degrees in linguistics and literature from Tel Aviv University. She received a scholarship to study comparative (Japanese) literature at Indiana University and conducted research in Japan on a U.S./Japan Friendship Commission grant on literature written by survivors of the A-Bomb. She has graduate degrees in finance (MBA) and East Asian studies (MA in economics) from Cornell University and worked as a financial analyst in Japan, London, and New York at Merrill Lynch (senior analyst), Morgan Stanley (vice president and head of Japan Desk) and Barings (senior vice president and head of Asia Desk). She has contributed numerous articles in both Hebrew and English to various publications such as Ha’aretz and The Other Israel and is coauthor of Israeli Rejectionism: A Hidden Agenda in the Middle East Peace Process. She was also active in Gush Shalom, B’tselem, Windows, Physicians for Human Rights, Makhsom Watch, Ta’ayush, and other peace organizations. She lives and teaches courses at academic institutions in Nova Scotia.