Samah Salaime’s tribute to Vivian Silver, the Canadian-Israeli peace activist killed in the Hamas attack on her Kibbutz on October 7th – a life dedicated to Jewish-Arab partnership and peace, unwavering in commitment to compassion.

“Nothing prepared me for yesterday’s bitter news of Vivian’s tragic end. I felt deep despair, like a bottomless sink-hole had opened under the foundations of humanity, where thousands are already buried – men, women, children, innocent Palestinians and Israelis. People who had wished for peace, and did not live to see that wish fulfilled…

Vivian believed in the power of women, and the power of compassion and love — in the completely naïve, simple meaning of these words. She knew, like many of us Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, that the army cannot bring peace, and that an “Iron Sword” — the name the Israeli army has given to its “operation” in Gaza — can only kill. The hammer crushes everything in its path. Even those of us, Palestinians and Israelis, who survive this war will emerge from it crushed by grief.”

—Samah Salaime