Taub Center publications, webinars, and war-related studies

Our Blog

  • These days mark 11 months since the outbreak of the war. Since October 7th, 1,635 Israelis have been murdered and killed, and 109 hostages are still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This brief paper presents information and data on the residents of the Northern and Southern communities and the casualties of the war.
  • In a roundtable meeting held in the Prime Minister’s Office in the framework of the multi-front emergency forum roundtable with the participation of researchers in the healthcare field, there was a discussion of the difficulties facing healthcare professionals in the areas of mental health, medicine, first responders and rescue workers, as well as professionals in education and welfare. At the center of the meetings stood the difficulties of coping with the impact of exposure to trauma in general, and during the current period in particular, with the October 7th war, a central test case.The discussions raised the need for a literature review and the formulation of recommendations in the area of assistance to medical professionals. The paper presented here was drafted in conjunction with researchers from the Taub Center, the Universities of Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Ben-Gurion, The Forum for Promoting Trauma-Informed Healthcare, the Shlomut organization, and other organizations that are concerned with the treatment of those who have experienced trauma. Click here for the full paper on Caring for Those Who Give Care in the Wake of the October 7th War: The Effect of Trauma Exposure on Healthcare Professionals and Coping With It on a Personal, Professional, and Systemic Level.
  • At the start of the war, the social welfare system was already in danger of collapsing. To address this issue, John Gal, Principal Researcher and Welfare Policy Program Chair, and Idit Weiss-Gal of TAU School of Social Work, propose some crucial measures that need to be taken in the short term in order to help all those in need.
  • Research manager Alex Wienreb writes about the terrifying age reversal of the October 7 massacre, in which the number of younger fatalities outnumbered the number of older victims.

  • How is Israel dealing with the huge increase in the number of wounded and hospitalized? Prof. Nadav Davidovitch , Principal Researcher and Health Policy Program Chair at the Taub Center, follows the state of the health system in Israel following the war.

Research

  • In this special chapter, which is the first in the State of the Nation Report 2023, Taub Center researchers survey the situation and point to actions that can be taken while the war is still ongoing and those it will be important to take upon its conclusion in order to return the country – its economy, its services, and its people – to the pre-war situation. In some areas, it may be possible to leverage the situation to arrive at a better reality and to improve preparedness for similar situations in the future. The researchers have formulated a list of policy measures — some of which can already be adopted — that will allow public sector systems to provide the solutions that are needed.

 

  • A new study published by the Taub Center Research and Policy Initiative for Environment and Health focuses on the environmental implications of the October 7, 2023 War and the variety of environmental disasters like oil spills, damage to gas storage units, electricity and water infrastructure, as well as the release of dangerous materials into the air that may follow it.
  • Apart from the many problems that will accompany the members of bereaved families following the attack on October 7th, the loss of a family member has an additional important detrimental effect on young children – it lowers their educational achievements. The study found that the likelihood of a child who experienced a death in his nuclear family of qualifying for a bagrut certificate is 26% lower than that of their peers.


Webinars

  • Prof. Avi Weiss, president of the Taub Center, gave a presentation for a JDC webinar on some of the socioeconomic developments in Israel during the war. Weiss spoke about the current employment status, the impact of the war on various sectors of the economy, its impact on working from home and more.

 

  • Prof. Benjamin Bental, Principal Researcher and Economics Policy Program Chair at the Taub Center, explores the economic and social ramifications of the war, including the assessment of conflict costs, its impact on various industries, on the workforce, and potential policy solutions to mitigate adverse effects.

 

 

  • Miri Eisin, incoming Chair of the Taub Center Board of Directors, shared her perspectives on the Hamas attack on Israel, on the war, and the challenges of those who have been evacuated from the Gaza surroundings. Eisin is a retired army colonel and Managing Director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Reichman University.