'You can't heal in a perpetual war': Israeli peace activist Yonatan Zeigen on following in his mother's footsteps

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Apr 20, 2026

Yonatan Zeigen, a social worker, mediator and Israeli peace activist who serves on the Parents Circle board and lost his mother Vivian Silver on October 7, reflects on moving from grief into full-time reconciliation work. He recalls his final calls with his mother, explains why he prefers joint Israeli-Palestinian memorials to state ceremonies, and discusses sustaining hope amid perpetual conflict.

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ANECDOTE

Vivian Silver's Cross Border Leadership

Yonatan described his mother Vivian Silver as a pioneering activist: one of the first female kibbutz secretaries and a leader in shared-society projects with Gaza.
She co-led a cross-border NGO with Palestinian Amal El-San El-Hajjuj, normalizing Palestinian colleagues as friends and partners.

INSIGHT

Peace Work Is No Protection From Violence

Zeigen observed that being a peace activist offers no immunity when large-scale violence erupts; vulnerability is shared across society.
He argued a context that enables perpetual war makes everyone vulnerable, not just direct victims.

ANECDOTE

Saying Goodbye As Gunshots Rang

Yonatan Zeigen said he spoke with his mother in her safe room and they consciously chose to say goodbye as gunshots rang outside her window.
That phone call, hearing shots while expressing love, became a pivotal moment that jolted him from a political coma into full-time activism.

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The final moments of Vivian Silver’s life were a “pivotal turning point” for her son Yonatan Zeigen, who now dedicates his life to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, following in the footsteps of his peace activist mother, who was slain in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

Speaking on the eve of Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, Zeigen recalled his final goodbyes with his mother with the gunshots of Hamas terrorists at her doorstep in the background, and the loss that he described as jolting him out of what he calls a “political coma” and moved him into full-time activism.

Zeigen is a board member of The Parents Circle-Families Forum that co-sponsors the annual alternative joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony.

He attended the ceremony in his youth together with his mother and immediately after her death, he knew that this would be the appropriate place to mourn her and continue her mission.

He said on the podcast that the alternative ceremony represented “how two peoples share a land: They don't share a land by creating artificial divisions and dehumanizing each other. They do it by looking each other in the eye by celebrating together and also crying together, mourning together.”

Zeigen said he was not comfortable being part of the government-sponsored ceremonies memorializing terror victims like his mother.

“Bereavement is framed in a political manner in Israel. It is utilized to boost morale by diving into our narrative of victimhood and rallying around and making heroes of those who die in the conflict. It’s not the way that I feel comfortable commemorating my mother.”

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