I have become focused on Jewish survival

For many years I’ve been involved in the feminist movement in Israel. I was in Israel on October 4th for a major peace rally, with peace activists from around the world as well as hundreds of Israeli Jews, Christians and Arabs from the group Women Wage Peace and our Palestinian partners, Women of the Sun.

Many women from the peace movement were murdered on October 7th. These included one of the two founders of Women Wage Peace Vivien Silver. It took days to find enough DNA to confirm her death- at first she was assumed to have been taken hostage.

There were many betrayals, women we’d thought of as allies and friends. This brought the first crack in my commitment to peace.

I know that Hamas aren’t interested in the Two State Solution. I know a great many Palestinians support Hamas. But I have to believe that the Jewish people have a sustainable future. Despite everything, there are still partners for peace.

October 7th changed me. I became focused in my very being on the survival of the Jewish people, working with a number of organisations around the clock. I see two separate issues, each of which requires 100% attention. One is Israel, the other is antisemitism world wide. By comparison, nothing is important.

October 7th taught us to recalibrate our stories. To fight the international evil, we need strong Jewish identities. I believe we need to become a community of educated Jews- Jews who can gain strength from our religious traditions and from knowledge of Jewish history. And we need to support each other. Because we’ve suddenly all become incredibly vulnerable.

Am Yisroel Chai
Bring them Home Now