Vivian Silver was born in 1949 in Winnipeg, Canada, and immigrated to Israel in 1974. She settled in kibbutz Gezer and soon became the leader of the community. She was an energetic person with strong beliefs and a natural sense of justice. In the early days, Vivian activated for gender equality and women’s rights. She worked in the Knesset for the Committee of the Advancement of Women in Work and Economy, and she founded the United Kibbutz Movement’s Department to Advance Gender Equality.

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In 1990, Vivian and her husband moved to kibbutz Be’eri with their two sons. It was there, in close proximity to Gaza and the Bedouin community of Israel, that she became a peace activist. Together with Amal Elsana Alh’jooj, an Arab Israeli woman, she founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation. This centre focuses on improving Arab-Jewish relations and a better understanding between Palestinians and Israelis. In 2010, they received the Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East.

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Apart from her work in the kibbutz and with the Centre, Vivian also volunteered with Road to Recovery, a project that transports sick people from Gaza to hospitals in Israel. In 2014, after another war with Gaza, she founded Women Wage Peace. This organization brings together women of different backgrounds and strives for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The organization has more than 20,000 members. They organize rallies, marches and other activities to pressure the Israeli government to work towards peace. Vivian also joined in the protests against Benjamin Netanyahu and his government and the planned judicial overhaul, as many Israelis did (including me). She was strongly opposed to Netanyahu’s politics.

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On October 4, 2023, just three days before Hamas’ attack on Israel, Woman Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, a Palestinian organization, joined together in a march for peace in Jerusalem. Vivian, 74 years old, was there, as always.

On October 7, Vivian Silver was alone at her home in kibbutz Be’eri. When she realized that the kibbutz was under attack by terrorists, she hid in a closet and began texting her family and friends. Her son describes their text messages. She told him that she loved him, and then she wrote: “They’re inside the house. It’s time to stop joking and to say goodbye.”

Her son wrote: “I love you mum, I’m with you.”

She answered: “I feel you.”

That was Vivian’s last message. After that, there was silence.

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In the evening, Vivian’s house was found completely trashed and burned out. Vivian was nowhere to be found and she was assumed to be a hostage. But five weeks later, Vivian’s remains were finally identified in her house. She had been murdered in cold blood and burned to ashes, by the very people she had worked so hard, all her life, to help and to forge bonds with.

Hamas didn’t care who Vivian was. It didn’t matter to them that she had dedicated her life to peace and better treatment of the Palestinians. They couldn’t care less. And that is because they do not want peace. Their goal is to destroy the Jews, not to make peace with them. Vivian was their enemy.

Vivian was mourned intensely by many. She was loved fiercely by hundreds of people and admired by thousands. Her funeral was attended by all her friends, her family and all the women and men she inspired, of many different backgrounds. Her son, Jonathan Zeigen, said: “It was not just me that was orphaned. The community you helped was as well. Your friends were orphaned. This country you adopted at a young age was orphaned. And your movement was orphaned. The movement of peace.”

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Women Wage Peace promised that the peace movement was not dead. That they would continue their work without Vivian. They knew that even now, especially now, Vivian would be calling for peace, for agreement, for understanding.

Vivian was an immeasurably better person than me. I have always believed that peace between Israel and the Palestinians was possible. That we just had to get rid of our rotten government, implement the two-state solution, and we would be able to achieve peace. After all, the Palestinians are just people, like us. Why would they not want peace? They just want to live their lives, like we do.

But now, I’m not so sure. I did not reckon with the pure hate the Palestinians have for us. How much Hamas controls their lives. How they are groomed and brainwashed since early childhood to hate and fear Jews. How they are told to sacrifice their lives to kill Jews. How can you make peace with people whose only goal in life is to kill you?

Still, I admire Vivian Silver, and all that she stands for. Rest in peace, Vivian, or, as one of your friends put it: Rest in power.

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