Peace activist Vivian Silver was murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, at her home on Kibbutz Be’eri.The Globe and Mail

If you’re fortunate enough to have a friend like this, you’ll understand: someone who has been in your life for so long, you can’t really remember a time when they weren’t.

For Lynne Mitchell, that friend was Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist – renowned and revered, a giant in the movement; adjectives that aren’t often used to describe peaceniks. She co-founded and ran organizations. She was a strong feminist. She protested, peacefully. She drove sick children from Gaza to hospitals in Israel.

“She would march for her causes at noon and tuck us into bed at night,” recalled one of her two sons, Chen Zeigen, to the CBC.

In Israel, Ms. Silver co-founded the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Co-operation; she was executive director of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development; and in 2014, she co-founded Women Wage Peace, which brings together Israeli and Palestinian women.

Canadian activist Vivian Silver dedicated her life to peace. Her son has inherited her legacy

“Enough. We’re no longer willing to do this. We must reach a political agreement,” Ms. Silver

© The Globe and Mail