 | This article may require copy editing for spelling, grammar, style, cohesion, or tone. (October 2026) |
Serena Bilanceri | |
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| Born | 1983 (age 42–43) Pisa, Italia |
| Education | Univeritsy of Bologna |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Reporting of Israel-Palestine relations |
Serena Bilanceri (born 1983) is an Italian journalist and poet. She is correspondent to Israel and the Palestinian territories for German newspaper die tageszeitung.
Serena Bilanceri was born in Pisa and grew up in close in the Tuscany region. She studied communication sciences at the University of Bologna and than moved to Bremen. She compled an Erasmus Mundus Master's program in Tübingen, Santiago de Compostela, Spain and St. Andrews (Scotland).
She puplished a second edition of her poetry collection, "Fino alla fine dell’illusione" and a collection titled "Fluire". Her poetry texts are primarily in Italian, though some are in German and English.
She has performed frequently in England with the literary group The Poetry Brothel, as well as in Germany and Italy.
She moved to Bremen, Germany and worked in film and media as a freelancer. Bilanceri completed an trainee (Voluntariat) at Weser Kurier. She worked for the capital office of DuMont-group and Radio Bremen.
In 2020, she received an IJP scholarship for the Middle East, and has since spent several months a year reporting from Jordan. In 2023 she started to report from the West Bank. Serena Bilanceri has been reporting from Israel and the Palestinian territories for many years and has been an official correspondent for die tageszeitung since June 2026.
Serena Bilanceri was searched on Tel Aviv Airport Ben Gurion in 2025 when she was traveling to Vienna, Austria to receive the Piazza Grande Journalism Award. Her labtop was confiscated by the Israeli authoritys and after 9 days Bilanceri got the device back heavily destroyed. Reporter without Borders, RSF were investigating the case and find, that an access to and spying on the computer by Israel authoritys was highly likely.
When she attempted to re-enter Israel from Jordan in October 2026 before the Israel national elections, the Israeli government denied her entry because she had reported critically on its policies. Israeli government revoked Serena Bilanceri's residence permit. Consequently, she was not granted a work visa.
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism stated that this decision was linked to two of her opinion pieces in tageszeitung made in 2025. Bilanceri had criticized the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and advocated for sanctions against Israel. She also criticized violence by right-wing settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. The Ministry Director General Avi Cohen Scali is quoted as saying: "Anti-Israel elements and those who defame Israel should not set foot on Israeli soil. We will not tolerate calls to boycott Israel under the guise of professional journalism."
taz views this as a significant infringement on press freedom. "With this move, the Netanyahu government is abandoning the principles of the democratic rule of law. We generally associate such actions only with authoritarian regimes." (taz editorial board)