Shurat HaDin's Nitsana Darshan-Leitner on 150 lawsuits, the generation that stayed after October 7, and why English-speaking young Israelis finally have a community built for them.
Twenty-two years ago, I founded Shurat HaDin because I believed the courtroom could be a battlefield — that suing terrorists, their financiers, and the states that harbor them could protect Israeli and Jewish lives in ways diplomacy alone never would.
We have filed over 150 lawsuits. Frozen terrorist assets. Shut down funding pipelines. Took Iran, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority to court — and won. (I wrote about where that fight stands now here.)
But something changed after October 7.
The Generation That Stayed
Israel buried more than 800 soldiers. Thousands of young reservists served four or five deployments in under two years. A generation between 21 and 35 was shaped by this war, by a global backlash they did not deserve, and by an antisemitism they thought was settled.
They fought. They came home. They are still here.
Many of them are English speakers. Olim. Kids of olim. Anglos who moved here at 18 or 22 or 25 and stayed through a war. They serve in the same units, live in the same cities, share the same language — and until now, nobody built anything for them.
A Room, Once a Month
Shurat HaDin launched a Young Professionals community this summer. Monthly gatherings in Israel for English-speaking Israelis, 21–35. Not a program. Not a fundraiser. A room with people who take the moment seriously.
On September 1, we are bringing that community together at Cinema City Glilot for an evening with Daniel Yaakov Zada — the Fauda actor whose personal story runs deeper than any script. Conversation, pizza, beer, and a private screening of The Odyssey. ₪60.
The evening is simple. The question behind it is not: what does it mean to be young, English-speaking, and Israeli after October 7?
People Build Countries
I have spent two decades arguing in courtrooms that Israel has a right to defend itself. But arguments do not build a country. People do. The ones who serve and go straight into jobs in Herzliya. The ones who show up to miluim with 48 hours' notice. The ones who lost friends and chose to stay.
They deserve a community. Not a panel. Not a gala. A room where the people are real and the conversation matters.
September 1. Cinema City. Glilot. Ages 21–35. English-speaking. Limited spots.
Register at israellawcenter.org/young-professionals.