Confessions of a Peace Activist

Like most of us, October 7 changed me.

Prior to that day, I facilitated countless dialogue groups and listening circles with Palestinians and Jews, taught Jewish studies,

attended protests, and served as program director for more than a decade with Together for Humanity. I was also a long-time mentee of the great Stella Cornelius, National Treasure and peace warrior.

As a professional storyteller, my particular niche was bringing disparate groups together. For years, I worked in Israel and Palestine, from Beit Jalla to Kibbutz Lotan, running workshops that included sessions for the Bereaved Families Forum, the mothers and fathers who lost children on both sides and who remain committed to a relationship with each other because they do not want to lose another.

I co-founded Jewish Voices for Peace and Justice in 2001, a group that continues to this day. From 1990 to 2007, I wrote a regular column for the Australian Jewish News called Telling Tales.

So what has changed?

In 2002, during the second Intifada, I wrote this in a column for the AJN:

“I feel I’m on the front line, dodging hand grenades of fear and loathing. Words march toward me with guns drawn, words that look innocent but entrap heretics: occupation, jihad, apartheid. Some words are taken hostage: self-defence, justice, truth. And there are traitor words, like Zionism, once a hope of the Left, now its favourite scourge.”

Looking back 24 years, it seems very little has changed.

Back then, we did not have the insidious algorithms that numb our discernment and conscience. We did not have the onslaught of disinformation, conspiracy and international propaganda. We were not bombarded with false narratives and endless fake everything, to the point where I can barely trust anything I read or see.

Stella Cornelius taught non-polarisation: in war, taking sides hardens conflict. That does not mean silence in the face of wrong. It means speaking without prejudice. It asks us to hold more than one truth at once: that every life is of infinite value and that justice without empathy curdles into vengeance.

Recently, I was eager to take part in a Prayers for Peace event for Gaza, Israel and Iran. On arriving at the Uniting Church, I saw a large purple banner hanging outside reading “Pray for Gaza”. I kept walking and did not attend. I am happy to pray for all of humanity suffering due to conflict and war. I refuse to be polarised, to choose one group’s suffering and ignore another’s, particularly in this climate of hate.

Since October 7, I have run many listening circles comprising Jews, Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, each speaking of their experiences, feelings and values without being challenged or interrupted. No debate, no demands to defend or explain, just listening. It is a process that creates safety and the capacity to hear without needing to convince, deny or reject. It builds a sense of unity, deeper understanding and genuine expansion. If we are to live together as two sovereign nations, there is no choice but to listen to each other.

I stay close to the brave souls in Israel and Palestine who protest their governments and nurture relationships across the divide. They hold to a higher ideal, the lineage of Abraham, who argued even with God against collective punishment. We must speak against injustice, even to the highest authority. There are thousands planting seeds of peace. If they, amid agony, can reach towards the other, surely we, so far away, can do the same.

I have changed. I am loath to add to the polarisation and hatred that is rampant. I hold close to me a sense of uncertainty because no one truly knows the full truth. We are all, every one of us, being shaped by forces we cannot fully see. If you think you know exactly what is going on, you are deluded. Certainty is a scourge. Listening is the discipline. Peace is the destination.