'You can't heal in a perpetual war': Israeli peace activist Yonatan Zeigen on following in his mother's footsteps

The final moments of Vivian Silver’s life were a “pivotal turning point” for her son Yonatan Zeigen, who now dedicates his life to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, following in the footsteps of his peace activist mother, who was slain in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

Speaking on the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, Zeigen recalled his final goodbyes with his mother with the gunshots of Hamas terrorists at her doorstep in the background, and the loss that he described as jolting him out of what he calls a “political coma” and moved him into full-time activism.

Zeigen is a board member of The Parents Circle-Families Forum that co-sponsors the annual alternative joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony.

He attended the ceremony in his youth together with his mother and immediately after her death, he knew that this would be the appropriate place to mourn her and continue her mission.

He said on the podcast that the alternative ceremony represented “how two peoples share a land: They don't share a land by creating artificial divisions and dehumanizing each other. They do it by looking each other in the eye by celebrating together and also crying together, mourning together.”

Zeigen said he was not comfortable being part of the government-sponsored ceremonies memorializing terror victims like his mother.

“Bereavement is framed in a political manner in Israel. It is utilized to boost morale by diving into our narrative of victimhood and rallying around and making heroes of those who die in the conflict. It’s not the way that I feel comfortable commemorating my mother.”

Read more:

'Swimming Against the Tide, but Swimming': More Israelis and Palestinians Now Choose to Grieve Together

Op-ed by Yonatan Zeigen: Most Israelis Are Willfully Ignorant, Opting to Deny or Justify. But There's an Alternative

Thousands of Israelis Sign Petition Urging TV Networks Not to Broadcast State Independence Day Ceremony

Op-ed by Yonatan Zeigen: When Justice Means Revenge, the Open Wounds of Israelis and Palestinians Won't Heal

'She Knew Peace Was the Only Way': Thousands Attend Funeral of Slain Canadian-Israeli Peace Activist Vivian Silver

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