Liora Eilon, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, lost her son, Tal Eilon — the commander of the kibbutz’s emergency response squad — during the October 7, 2023, attack in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists brutally slaughtered some 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 to the Gaza Strip.

Eilon decided that the greatest vengeance on Hamas for Tal’s death would be to eschew the violent methods used by the terrorists and join the Parents Circle – Families Forum, a far-left coexistence organization that engages in Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and calls for an end to armed conflict between the peoples.

Speaking to The Times of Israel, Eilon explained her choice.

“I was a peace activist for many years until October 7. After October 7, the world around me changed, but that doesn’t mean I have to let it change who I am. I know who I am. We’ve tried wars too many times and it hasn’t worked. I strongly believe in the forum’s slogan, ‘It won’t end until we talk.'”

Twenty years ago, that ethos of dialogue and joint experiences helped spawn an alternative event that takes place annually alongside Israel’s official ceremonies on the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. The Parents Circle – Families Forum and another fellow Israeli-Palestinian organization, Combatants for Peace, now annually hold a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial, which brings together Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones in the conflict.

This year’s ceremony will be held Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv and broadcast at 160 locations across Israel, the Palestinian territories, and around the world.

It has long been controversial among both Jews and Arabs, and there have been attempts to protest or disrupt the ceremony, which, conducted in both Hebrew and Arabic, commemorates Palestinian and Israeli victims side by side.

The organizations have continued their work over the past 19 months under the shadow of the October 7 massacre and the war in Gaza, and the alternative memorial has carried on. But death and loss have made it harder for participants to keep speaking about peace and a shared future as the death toll in Gaza rises and Israel continues to grapple with the aftermath of the deadliest terror attack in its history.

Still, the ongoing war in Gaza has seen some new members. Parents Circle – Families Forum co-CEO Nadine Khamisyeh told The Times of Israel that, along with Jewish Israelis such as Eilon, the group has new Palestinian members who lost many relatives during the IDF’s military campaign against Hamas.

“One member lost about 67 relatives in a single massacre in Gaza,” said Khamisyeh. “It would have been easy for them to walk away from this organization and from this kind of work. But when you hear people who have paid the highest price calling for a shared future and wanting to be heard even more........

© The Times of Israel