Confessions of a Peace Activist

Like the majority 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, served as program director for over a decade with Together for Humanity, and was a long-time mentee of the great Stella Cornelius OBE, National Treasure, peace warrior.

As a professional storyteller, my particular niche was bringing disparate groups together. For years I have worked in Israel and Palestine, from Beit Jalla to kibbutz Lotan, to run workshops, including for the Bereavement group – the mothers and fathers who lost children on both sides, and are committed to being in relationship with each other, because they don’t want to lose another.

I co-founded Jewish Voices for Peace and Justice in 2001, a group that continues to this day. I wrote a regular column for the Australian Jewish News from 1999 to 2007, named Telling Tales.
So what has changed?

In 2002, during the second Intafada I wrote this in a column for the AJN:
‘“I feel Im 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 would seem very little has changed.
Back then, we didnt have the insidious algorithms that serve to numb our discernment and conscience. We didnt have the onslaught of disinformation, conspiracy, and international propaganda. We were not bombarded with false narratives and endless fake-everything, to the point that I can hardly believe anything.