"An absolute majority of respondents (75%) said that since October 7, they feel a greater connection to the State of Israel (69%) and the diverse Israeli society (68%)."
"I hear those voices. Voices that are calling for peace and they are coming from Palastinians, Israelis and from all over the world. Please help us share those voices of humanity."
Maoz Inon,
(Son of Bilha and Yaakovi Inon, Israeli peace activists murdered by Hamas on October 7th.)
"The Hamas leader Yahye Sinwar was with us the first 3 or 4 days. I asked if he wasn't ashamed to do such a thing to people who supported peace for years?
He didn't answer. He fell silent."
Yocheved Lifshitz,
Freed Israeli hostage and veteran peace activist.
I still stand with the Israeli people who suffered one of the most horrific terror attacks on October 7th, and are still suffering from having hundreds of citizens held hostage in a breach of international law.
I keep meaning to say this, but then every time the Israeli government does or says something so beyond outrageous that I get distracted. Sorry.
I’m out of here. All social media. It is too toxic and traumatizing.
Take care, be kinder to each other, spend more time supporting strangers rather than tearing down friends and colleagues. Keep advocating for health and safety. Show up as an ally in real life. Advocate for humanity.
"As [85-year-old grandmother Yocheved Lifschitz, a hostage] was being taken from the back of a pickup truck, she grasped the hand of one of the Hamas militia who accompanied her and in a faint yet distinct voice uttered the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, three times. After all that she had been through, she could still greet her captor with such a significant gesture [as she was released]."
Shabbat Shalom – "Never again" means for everyone.
Listen to Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, a leading member of #JewishVoiceForLabour (a group launched in 2017 to defend then leader Jeremy #Corbyn against false and politicized accusations of #antisemitism)
On 4th November 1995, Israel's peace-making President Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by far right activist Yigal Amir.
While most right thinking people in Israel agree he should remain in prison for life, there are those who still advocate for Amir's release, including National Security Minister Ben Gvir.
"This is a course which is fraught with difficulties and pain. For Israel, there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war.
This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace. For this, I thank you."
Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin's final words,
4th November 1995.
"My dear friends, when we see the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, doesn’t it create a sense of nostalgia for visionary Israeli leaders such as Yitzhak Rabin?
We must salute forever Mr Rabin as a true martyr of peace, a man of vision, a man of courage.
'My current battle is ideological, a battle against extremists within our society who incite strife and hate.
In Israel these days, remaining in solidarity with Palestinians and holding on to a vision of peace and shared life is seen as naive at best and as treason at worst.
The 7 October massacre ignited a tribalist “us versus them” instinct among most of us, leaving little space for complexity."
"While fighting in Gaza, I prayed for a voice of reason – in the government and the general public – who would say clearly and unequivocally that revenge cannot be our plan of action, that our force should be used as a tool and not a goal. Alongside the memories of the war’s destruction in Gaza, I clearly remember one moment of light: when the ceasefire was announced."
Statement by Jewish Peace Fellowship Regarding the war in Israel and Gaza
“Seek peace and pursue it” - Psalm 34:14b
As a Jewish peace organization, we lament and mourn the recent events in Israel and Gaza. At the time we are writing this, thousands of civilians have been killed, injured, and assaulted in Israel and in Gaza.
During these dark days, we remember our history as JPF. We were founded in 1941 during World War II when our message of nonviolence was often not appreciated. But JPF still spoke out. And so we must still speak, as Jews who believe in the power of #nonviolence and in the hope inherent in our most important value: #Shalom, which is not simply the absence of violence but also the presence of harmony, sustainability, wholeness, and justice.
"Our leaders need to pay the price for bringing us here, Israeli leaders and Palestinian leaders. They all need to go. And we need a new generation of Israelis and Palestinians who are willing to stand up with new ideas, new visions, new hopes, new dreams, and the ability to lead us forward on the very basic principle that everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea must have the same right to the same rights."
"I hope that after the Israeli people are experiencing the biggest trauma since the Holocaust, and the Palestinians have been taken back to 1948 and the Nakba, that we wake up from this traumatic situation and understand.
The metaphor I use is the Belfast moment, the moment when we stand up and say, “We’ve been killing each other for a hundred years, and we have to stop.”
Footage has emerged of the 85-year-old Israeli hostage Yocheved Lifshitz shaking hands with one of her Hamas captors and saying “shalom”, a Hebrew greeting meaning “peace”, after being released back to her family.
Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of freed Israeli hostage Yocheved Lifshitz said she and her mother still dreamed of peace with Palestinians.
"We have to find ways because there is no alternative. If anything, it makes me even more resolved. The way has got longer – we are dealing with grief and loss on a level we can never get over, but as nations we will have to find a way forward.”
Everything right now is very difficult, my friends. I hope you are all safe and cared for. #Kindness, #peace, #humanity will somehow prevail. It must. For everyone.
It is important now, more than ever, to affirm that intentional attacks on civilian populations are always wrong, no matter what....even for what we believe are just causes.