Meet the new generation of Israeli peace activists

Israel's peace camp has been in decline for years, categorised by an ageing group of activists, most of them old enough to remember the hope of Oslo in the 1990s.

But last week's 'It's Time' peace summit has proven there is a small yet mighty base of passionate, driven and outspoken young Israelis fighting for a peaceful future alongside Palestinians.

Below, we speak to five activists inspiring the next generation to "stop the war", "make peace fun again" and envision "a different Judaism".

May Ayer, 27, is COO of Mehazkim ("strengthening"), a political messaging platform that specialises in digital activism. Despite a young team – they have just one employee over the age of 30 – Mehazkim reaches approximately 1.5 million Israelis every month with their digital campaigns that aim to “make peace fun again” and act as “a megaphone” to amplify and energise centre-left voices.

“We don’t have another option but to believe in peace and fight for peace, because it’s our future, it’s our children’s future,” Ayer said.

As a persistent organiser of protests, Ayer “absolutely [has] faith in Israeli youth": "We see them go out on the street, we see it on social media… I also see it in the States right now after the elections, people are starting to connect the dots”.

While she acknowledges internal polls are showing young Israelis becoming more right-wing, she remains inspired: "As long as there is enough of a small core that still believes in [peace] ideas, I can still be hopeful.”

The work Roei Kletman, 30, does is not for the ‘religious left’, but rather ‘faith for the left’, because his mission is “wider than something that belongs to one sociological group”. 

Kletman is involved in a number of organisations, but is especially excited by HaMidrasha HaMonit, a religious seminary of young people aged between 18 and 35 that engages in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a religious lens.

Kletman seeks to challenge the mainstream Jewish religious voice. “Unfortunately, the main voices that we hear are voices of supremacy, regime, power or even nekama ("revenge")... we are trying to make a different Judaism: a Judaism of compassion, justice, equality,” he said.

Kletman sees this movement growing no matter how far-right and extreme the reality may be getting.

“A lot of people around me come from very right-wing families, and they see a gap, and they work with this gap and go through a large change.

"The only way to change is education and the generation that has to think about its future here."

Nadav Shofet, 31, is a member of the national leadership of Standing Together, a progressive and grassroots joint Israeli-Palestinian movement.

The primary aim of Standing Together, which consists of a majority young team and strong social media presence, "is to stop the war” and to “choose life for everyone on the land".

"We know that the majority wants this, we know that over 70% of the public in Israel wants the war to end and the hostages to return... This summit is here to show that no, we are not small, we are actually the majority," Shofet said.

"We know hope will come from a change in a younger generation and a new horizon that, unfortunately, our politicians who have been in power for decades cannot provide.”

Amit Shiff is just 17-years-old but he is already conscious that harmful prejudices prevent Mizrahi Israelis from having a voice within the peace camp.

“When people think of Mizrahim, they think of right-wing [people that] don’t help [the fight for peace] and make [the situation] worse,” said Shiff, adding that Mizrahim are often referred to as “the periphery”.

Shiff is working tirelessly to amplify the message of The Mizrahi Civic Collective, which aims to mobilise the left Mizrahi voice, and to get more young Mizrahim involved in the peace movement. 

Leehe Bronstein, 33, is a field manager at Darkenu – Israel’s largest non-partisan civil society movement that wants Israel to remain a Jewish and democratic country, while also making Palestinian sovereignty possible. This involves creating allies amongst moderate Arab countries so that, in an eventual peace agreement, a “Palestinian country [will have a base of] moderate constructions, not jihadistic”. 

While other organisations at the peace summit strive to engage the golden "70% of Israeli society that want to end the war", as polled by Channel 12 on March 28, Bronstein says Darkenu already “represents that 70% population of Israel. You can call us a centre organisation - the left and right can feel at home in our movement”. 

Bronstein urges more young Israelis to become actively involved in the fight for peace.

"Friends that were involved years ago, now they don’t want to hear it and deal with it. [Our] society is so tired and broken…so [young people] somehow have a rejection [to it]," she said.  

"[We are] trying to wake up the young people. Young people want something to happen… we can’t just manage this conflict.”