Rebecca Bardach, at The Blogs

Dec 28, 2023, 5:20 AM

It’s day 83 and Hersh has missed his flight to India

Attendants at the rally to release the hostages held in Tel Aviv on December 23, 2023.

The decision-makers will not keep the hostages front and center without constant reminders of how much it matters

Dec 21, 2023, 1:15 PM

Ending our lives together – or choosing life together

The three hostages mistakenly killed by IDF soldiers December 15, 2023 (photos courtesy of The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum headquarters).

The mind spins trying to absorb the story of the three hostages whom IDF soldiers mistakenly shot as they fled the darkness of captivity for the light of freedom. After surviving 70 days in Hamas captivity Yotam Haim, Samar...

Jul 26, 2023, 6:45 AM

This coalition is just getting started – but so is the protest movement

Protestors standing up against police water cannons the night of July 24, 2023.

July 24, 2023 may be remembered by most Israelis as the darkest day in the country’s history, with the passage of the current coalition’s first overhaul bill inviting catastrophe. But it may also prove to be the birth pangs...

Jul 7, 2023, 1:40 PM

Civic Zionism is the antidote to supremacist Zionism

“That home that built here still stands by virtue of force, but, ironically, that home can no longer keep us safe through force,” writes Shuli Dichter in his recently published book Sharing the Promised Land: In Pursuit of...

Jan 31, 2023, 12:01 AM

Stop the Sirens

It took at most a minute to realize that the sirens I kept hearing from my apartment off of Hebron Road Saturday morning weren’t rushing to tend to an “ordinary” emergency. As their wailing loomed and then faded, only...

Mar 25, 2022, 6:39 PM

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Why are Knesset members threatening schools and peace activists?

MK Itamar Ben-Gvir protests outside Hof Hasharon highschool at Shefayim. December 23, 2021 (Screenshot from YouTube)

Using accusatory and ominous language, activists are managing to repress much-needed debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Jun 24, 2021, 1:55 PM

Anatomy of a riot

The police report was tersely worded: “Three suspects were arrested following violent riots which included stone-throwing, throwing fireworks, batons and setting trash cans on fire. In addition, a municipal inspector was attacked while pepper sprayed, and a police officer...

Jun 11, 2021, 5:54 PM

When comedians and gatekeepers predict civil war

Graves in Sarajevo's Olympic fields (1997) (photo taken by author)

“This nation isn’t coming together… There are too many types… Everyone hates each other!” exclaimed a character in an episode of the popular Israeli satirical comedy A Wonderful Country produced in March just after the latest round of elections....

Jun 3, 2021, 12:17 AM

Jewish-Arab partnership can overcome the violence

Looming above the Tel Aviv highway was a newly installed billboard, with the message, in alternating lines of Hebrew and Arabic, white and yellow lettering vivid against a bright blue background: “The greatest insurance against violence is co-existence.” It...

About Me

Rebecca Bardach is a writer and practitioner in building Jewish-Arab shared society in Israel, with experience in migration, conflict and development issues, and integrating policy, practice and people-oriented perspectives. She is a Schusterman Senior Fellow and holds an MPA in Public Policy and International Development from NYU. She lives in Jerusalem with her family.

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