Netanya Academic College

This qualitative study explores the experiences of Israeli therapists implementing the FOCUS (Families OverComing Under Stress) intervention. Originally developed for US military families, the FOCUS model was adapted to support civilian families exposed to chronic trauma. Through in-depth interviews with 13 therapists, the study identified three main themes: the shift from individual to family trauma-focused care, acquisition of new therapeutic tools, and challenges in implementation. Therapists emphasized the importance of addressing trauma within the family system but reported lacking appropriate tools before using FOCUS. The program offered structured yet adaptable methods to help families reconstruct a shared narrative and strengthen resilience. Challenges included the need for prior family therapy experience, intensive supervision, and difficulties recruiting all family members. The findings support the integration of trauma-informed care and family therapy, highlighting the need for further research on FOCUS's long-term effects and adaptability in diverse settings involving all family members.

INTRODUCTION:Healthcare systems are considered critical infrastructure and are therefore required to maintain continuous operation during wartime and large-scale emergencies. This reality places healthcare professionals in a complex position, as they are expected to sustain professional performance while facing personal safety threats, increased workload, and concerns for their families. This paper examines the key patterns characterizing the behavior of healthcare teams during wartime, integrating current research literature with organizational experience from the Israeli healthcare system. The literature highlights several recurring features, including a heightened sense of professional mission, increased team cohesion, and organizational adaptability. At the same time, significant emotional burdens are documented, which may lead to burnout and compassion fatigue. The article also presents an organizational case study from Assuta Medical Centers, describing measures implemented to maintain operational continuity while supporting staff during a period of armed conflict. These measures included adjustments in clinical activity, establishment of protected care environments, continuous managerial communication, and the provision of support mechanisms for employees and their families. The findings underscore the central role of organizational factors, particularly leadership, communication, and perceived organizational support, in shaping staff resilience and commitment during crisis situations. The authors conclude by proposing directions for future empirical research to systematically examine the relationship between organizational practices and healthcare workers' resilience and engagement in wartime.

Abstract Since the beginning of the 1980s, the High Court of Justice started loosening to the point of abandoning the standing requirement: the petitioner to the High Court of Justice need not show standing if the petition raises issues of constitutional importance or of utmost public concern. In the past decade, an opposite trend could be identified, although not that conspicuous or settled, reflecting a wary of citizen-initiated lawsuits in which the plaintiff alleged no personal injury beyond a concern that the government had acted unlawfully. Justices, mostly but not solely from the “conservative camp” of the High Court of Justice, increasingly but sporadically, deploy an intermediate approach, qualifying the permissive approach by a list of limiting exceptions and other judicial means. However, because the Court retains substantial discretion whether to employ standing or not, the intermediate approach transforms the standing doctrine from a tool to constrain the Court’s discretionary screening authority into a tool to expand it.

Abstract Although Israel’s constitutional history is relatively short, a fascinating and rich branch of constitutionalism dealing with substantive limitations on amending power has been evolving in its legal system. In this chapter, readers are guided through a maze of cutting-edge constitutional doctrines for screening amendments to Israel’s Basic Laws, namely misuse of constituent power, unwritten fundamental principles, and unconstitutional constitutional amendments. The Supreme Court has remained undecided regarding the third of these three concepts while the other two have already been invoked by the Court. After a series of historic rulings over the last couple of years, in which a quite robust mechanism for judicial review of amendments was applied, it is safe to say that Israel’s constitutional law has profoundly transformed itself. As dictated by the title of this book, this chapter is mostly descriptive. However, no presentation of a legal doctrine is complete without outlining its normative boundaries.