Social Work in Israel

Every society poses unique cultural challenges to the social work profession. Prominent social characteristics that demand the attention of Israeli social workers include its diverse ethnic composition, including Jews who immigrated to the country from various parts of the world, Palestinians, Druze and Bedouins, and African Asylum seekers – all holding heterogeneous religious and religiosity affiliations. Moreover, several wars and the on-going threat of terror attacks, as well as being a home to many Holocaust survivors, have rendered war- and terror-related trauma a common phenomenon in Israel. Thus, Israeli social workers operate within highly charged social sensitivities stemming from a complex of stress and trauma, multiculturalism, and tensions between western liberalism and traditional and religious values.