Israel has become a global leader of medical clowning over the past two and a half decades, with two main organizations and the world’s first full bachelor’s degree program in medical clowning, at Haifa University. The nonprofit has also pioneered medical clowning in rehabilitation, trauma care and adult wards. One Israeli study found that children undergoing blood draws cried about two-thirds less when accompanied by a medical clown. But after Oct. 7, medical clowning took on a much larger role in Israel’s trauma wards. One Dream Doctors clown said she had worked with more than 1,000 traumatized soldiers in the year after the attacks.