Silently Navigating Ethical Paradoxes in the Israel-Hamas Conflict: A Short Note.

I embark on the writing of this short note not as an expert in ethics or a seasoned war analyst but rather as an involved observer nudged into the spotlight by a colleague's overestimation of my insight into the Israel-Hamas conflict. I approach this task with scepticism yet hoping to morph it into a form of therapy. My own therapy, a means to break the shackles of silence that have gripped not only myself but, I suspect, many others in Israel.

Surprising partners: Teachers' contribution to school bullying.

Participant role theory describes the designation of social roles and the use of contextually appropriate social scripts and provides a context for the interpretation of a range of social and interpersonal issues, including bullying in the school setting. This study uses participant role theory to analyze interpersonal engagements in a 10th grade class in a high school in central Israel. Data were drawn from ethnographic observations conducted by the first author of the cohort over the course of a school year, together with in-depth semi-structured interviews with the students and teachers. The findings suggest that students apply "role switching" (the flexible presentation of multiple social roles, depending on context) to negotiate the challenge of bullying in the school setting. The study also assesses the influence of individual teachers on role switching, positing that a teacher's relationship with individual students can serve as a catalyst for role-switching in three specific circumstances: where the teacher-student relationship instigates bullying against a specific child; where the teacher is a bully; and where a supportive relationship enables positive role-switching on the part of specific classroom actors. These findings have theoretical and applied significance in both pre- and in-service training for teachers and school administrative staff.

Venenum, Virus, Fear, and Politics.

This article presents a short reflection on the confluence between politics and pandemics as they are reflected in Israel in March and April 2020.

Social Workers from Oppressed Minority Group Treating Majority Group's Clients: A Case Study of Palestinian Social Workers.

This article discusses minority-majority practice relations on the basis of a case study analysis of the dynamics and strategies reported by 32 Palestinian social workers living in Israel regarding their practice with Jewish clients. The described encounters reflect the charged political reality and are loaded with many tensions, fears, anger, and hatred. The results indicate five major categories, reflecting perceived mutual reactions: avoidance, power reversal, confrontation and anger, minimizing differences, and exploiting differences. The article discusses the need for a context-informed practice theory as well as training and supervision to change the emotional encounters from a potential battleground to a growth-enhancing experience within minority-majority practice relations.

An ethnographic study of participant roles in school bullying.

An ethnographic study in a 10th grade remedial class was undertaken in order to discern patterns of school bullying. Twenty 10th graders were observed over the course of one academic year as they interacted with their peers and teachers. The observations helped us identify dispositional and situational factors which influenced participant roles. In-depth interviews of students involved in school bullying showed how participants interpreted and explained their classroom behaviors. The analysis of the data gathered allowed the identification of four main actor roles recognized in the existing literature on bullying-the pure victim, the pure bully, the provocative-victim, and the bystander-as well as the differentiation between aggressive bullies and the bully managers. Most roles fluctuated according to specific circumstances and often appeared to be moderated by the teacher's management style and contextual variables. Some pupils assumed different roles in different contexts, sometimes changing roles within or between episodes. Teacher personality and style also had an impact on the frequencies and types of aggression and victimization. The use of an ethnographic research paradigm is discussed as an important supplement to positivistic studies of school bullying.