This article is probably the first work to explore systematically the commemoration of rescuers from a human rights and transitional justice perspective. It argues that the documentation and commemoration of acts of rescuers during mass atrocities should become an integral part of the human rights response to such atrocities. These undertakings could make important contributions to the goals of post-conflict reconstruction, especially in relation to conflict-transformation between communities, and to confronting the role of passive bystanders. The article first develops the concept of "rescues for humanity" to elucidate the significance of rescues in the transitional justice framework and, after reviewing existing initiatives, it moves on to identify the potential benefits of such undertakings, as well as the challenges and risks involved in the documentation of rescues.

What role does the death penalty play in contexts of protracted political violence? What does it symbolize for its opponents and proponents in such contexts? Can it survive as a potent topic of political life even without actual executions? Since 1967, the death penalty has been a lawful sanction in Israel's military courts, which have jurisdiction over Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Though it has never been carried out, it has been intensely debated throughout this period and the topic has retained major political, cultural, and judicial significance. I argue that both sides in these debates use the topic mostly symbolically, rather than as an issue of public policy. For opponents, refraining from using the death penalty has become a symbol of restraint, used in self‐legitimation. For proponents, death penalty advocacy serves as what I term a penal fantasy, an outlet for frustration, symbolizing defiance against the image of restraint.

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