The week that was

On war, death, democracy, rights, and other light reading: A round-up of events in Middle East that are far from the public eye

It’s hard to believe that we are now PAST October 7 — a year later. So much time has gone by, and yet we are all still in this quagmire. Getting worse every day it seems.

One thing I learned this week is that this date means different things to different people. The week was packed with memorial events, webinars, gatherings, and commentaries here and around the world. I attended two events on that day.

One was an online peace-activation gathering of Jewish-Israelis, Palestinians, and people from around the world meditating on pain, trauma, and constructing a new vision of the future. It was a project of my podcast co-host Eva Dalak, who runs a weekly peace activation gathering. To learn more or join the group, click here. It will give you hope.

The second event was a public viewing of the Families of October 7 memorial ceremony held in the Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv. The two-hour ceremony, a moving compilation of survivor testimonies, family memorials, and musical performances, centered the pain and trauma of Israelis around October 7. This seems like the obvious way to mark the date, but such a view was not shared by the Israeli government. Transport Minister Miri Regev, who was in charge of the official government ceremony, called the hostage families “noise”, and ended up pre-recording a ceremony with no audience, closing down all of Ofakim in order to do it so that there would be no unnecessary sounds of human beings, especially those who may be protesting the government or demanding that they should focus on getting the hostages back. Anyway, I watched the ceremony on a large screen in Reut along with a few hundred neighbors in a showing organized by my local Bonot Alternativa chapter. It was one of hundreds of public showings in Israel and around the world. The ceremony was extremely painful to watch — all the more reason to stay and hold space for it. The families suffering through all this should not be alone. If you haven’t seen any of it, I recommend catching some snippets.

Another event that took place but which I did not get to attend was a joint memorial ceremony run by Combatants for Peace and Roots, two very important organizations working on peace and reconcilliation. Eva and I chatted about this at the offices of Combatants for Peace. The recording of our conversation will be up on my Youtube channel tomorrow, so check that space.

Also, FYI, later today Eva and I will be speaking on a webinar about women’s roles in bringing peace. The webinar is being held by the Swedish organization Gender and Development in Practice.

Register here for the webinar.

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Below is a round-up of some of the other news of the week. Who was jailed for a tiktok post, whose mosque is being threatened with destruction, and who has surprisingly joined the mission to build shared society. And more.

Please note, I am offering this new feature here, the weekly round-up of news behind-the-scenes, for paid subscribers only. I hope you like it. Eager to hear your comments and feedback.