Rebecca Bardach, at The Blogs

Jan 13, 2026, 6:36 PM

Return and Repair, North and South: The Long Road Ahead

We’ve emerged into the “day after the war” period, eyes squinting and tearing as we try to adjust to the vast horizon that lies ahead. I longed for us to get to this stage since the early days of...

Nov 25, 2025, 6:08 PM

Rainbows, Covenents and Extremist Settler Violence

A rainbow across Jerusalem. (Photo taken by author).

A fragment of rainbow suddenly appeared, rising up from the trees right in front of me, its colorful swath disappearing into the dark clouds above. I gasped. And then, suddenly, in the distance on the opposite horizon, another fragment...

Oct 6, 2025, 4:01 PM

From Accidental Activist to Protest Leader: Expanding Our ‘Us’

Protestors holding a sign: "Grandmothers Fight Back!"
Dana Hershfeld provided this photo for use in this article.

Dana Hirshfeld has become one of Jerusalem’s protest leaders, but you could say she is something of an accidental activist. It all started with the elderly. It was 2023, and the governing coalition – then newly elected, and the most right-wing...

May 30, 2025, 12:08 AM

Can’t we do better than this Jerusalem Day hatred and violence?

Participants in the Inter-Faith March in Jerusalem for Human Rights and Peace (March 28, 2025). Courtesy of organizers.

It's early afternoon and unseasonably hot. Business in the little store you operate has been slow, though that's been true most days since the war began. Suddenly you hear shouts, pounding feet. You look up just as dozens of...

May 18, 2025, 6:25 AM

Israel’s soldiers need better answers than “There is no choice left”

Speakers at the "People's Peace Summit" organized by It's Time, May 9, 2025. (Photo by Rebecca Bardach).

“It’s happening” wrote one friend recently, whose world was upended when he received yet another call-up notice to return to Gaza, after already serving 250 days since October 7. And with this, a thousand questions. About the hostages. About...

Feb 14, 2025, 7:16 PM

Featured Post

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...

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. Follow her writing on Substack for deeper insights into these issues.

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