Shikma Bressler

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Shikma Bressler is an Israeli physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She works on detectors and particle physics, and helps gather data from the CERN ATLAS experiment in Switzerland, researching physics beyond the standard model and the Higgs boson. She studied at the Technion, earning a BSc in physics and mathematics with distinction, a MSc in physics in 2006, and a PhD in 2011. She joined the Weizmann Institute in 2012 and led a research group from 2013; she became an associate professor in 2023.

Bressler was born in Haifa and grew up in Kibbutz Gvat and Timrat. As a young athlete she played basketball, including for Hapoel Haifa W.B.C. After completing her army service, she pursued science, married, and had two children. She later divorced, remarried, and has five daughters.

In March 2020, she co-founded the Black Flags protests with her brothers Yarden and Eyal and friends, to challenge Prime Minister Netanyahu and what they viewed as problems in government. The movement called for a new Knesset chair after elections, stronger parliamentary oversight, and a law to prevent an indicted person from becoming prime minister. The protests spread across the country and became known as the Black Flags.

In 2023, Bressler was detained during the Day of Disruption protests but was later released. She helped lead a high-profile march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in July 2023 to oppose a proposed law. In September 2023 there was controversy about whether she charged US$20,000 for meetings in New York; supporters said it was an uncoordinated private matter. In 2024 she filed a defamation suit against Knesset member Tally Gotliv over claims about her communications with Hamas, and Netanyahu noted the claims were false. In 2025, Netanyahu launched defamation lawsuits against several individuals, including Bressler, and she started a crowdfunding campaign to cover her legal costs.

Awards and recognition include the Charles Clore Award (2016), appearance on TheMarker’s list of the 100 most influential people in Israel (2020), and Forbes’ list of the 50 most influential women in Israel (2020). She also received the Nathan Rosen Experimental Physics Prize for Young Physicists from the Israeli Physical Society (2021).