Rotem, a 27 year old Israeli, was a Masters student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem studying for her Masters in Public Policy, having completed her degree in Political Science and International Relations at the Hebrew University. Rotem also worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel and with a member of the Israeli Parliament “Knesset” in the Kadima party.
Her ambition is a career as an Israeli foreign diplomat and she applied to NSL to be able to work with a diverse team of young leaders that included Palestinians because she feels that no future diplomacy for Israel is going to work without that understanding. Her family originally comes from Morocco and she loves the North African culture and cuisine. She is active on campus and was a member of various groups that aim to represent the story of Israel in a fair and balanced manner.
She says one of her inspirations was two American young people whom she met in a Jewish youth camp in California, and who subsequently enlisted with the Israeli army. One of them, Avi, was tragically killed in a car accident when he returned to the USA and the witness of this young American caring so much for Israel has stayed with her ever since. Rotem has also had personal experience of the conflict in her own family too, losing her cousin to senseless violence.
Over the summer of 2011, Rotem teamed with Palestinian classmate, Samer Anatabwi, shadowing Congressman Jarad Polis (D-Colorado).
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