December 2023
Scroll down to access the following content...
Where We Stand
We are broken, anguished, disheartened, enraged… but we will not be deterred from our mission of nurturing the next generation of Israeli, Palestinian, and American change-makers...
Heart Forums
Changemakers Visit Washington
Diplomatic Changemakers
Youth Committed to Change
Straight From the Heart
First Do No Harm
by Hela Lahar
Yet Talk We Must
by Robbie Gringras
Resisting Hatred
by Hamze Awawde & Magen Inon
In the News
It's Complicated: Pursuing Peace in a Time of War
Horizon of Hope
Piercing the Darkness
by Kristina Mahr
New Committee Members
Tal Zelinger
Mohammed Alsanah
Samuel Nissim
Where We Stand
We are broken, anguished, disheartened, enraged… but we will not be deterred from our mission of nurturing the next generation of Israeli, Palestinian, and American change-makers.
Those who brought us to this terrible place will not redeem our shattered societies. It is up to us to shelter and empower those young people who recognize this reality.
We pray that even in our steering pain we can find the capacity to comfort, strengthen, and provide hope and healing to those most directly affected by this devastation.
Heart Forums
Changemakers Visit Washington
This month, Heart of a Nation organized a Washington itinerary for Shir Nosatzki, founder and Director of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, and Hanan Alsanah, Bedouin women’s rights activist. They came to promote their Joint Jewish-Arab Emergency Relief Center, which provides hundreds of parcels of food and other necessities, as well as a variety of individual and family services, each week to Jewish and Arab towns and villages affected by violence on and since October 7. The message they delivered to members of Congress, NSA and USAID officials, NGO leaders, and community activists is that Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel are not only partners in pain, but in the building of a shared society.
Diplomatic Changemakers
In November and December, in conjunction with the Israel Diplomacy Institute, Heart of a Nation ran online workshops for Israelis and others from more than 20 countries interested in exploring global diplomacy in a time of war. This was the second of 10 planned workshops, with participants actively involved in the creation of their own curriculum.
Youth Committed to Change
Since October 7, Heart of a Nation has been asked to run several in person and online sessions for American teens and college students.
Straight From the Heart
Perspectives From Our Committee Members and Allies:
First, Do No Harm
By Hela Lahar
In an era where the line between news reporting and social media blur, the integrity of information becomes crucial. Inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, I wish to implore the necessity of truthfulness, context, and ethical responsibility in modern reporting and social media engagement.
The golden era of journalism, characterized by a steadfast commitment to truth and impartiality, seems a distant memory. Today, sensationalism often supersedes accuracy and depth. As both producers and consumers of content, we’ve embraced a culture of “lazy reporting,” where fact-checking and understanding complexity are often neglected.
Yet Talk We Must
By Robbie Gringras
Is it too early for us to talk openly and broadly about the war?
Some of us need to close down or narrow debate. Some of us are in too much pain to think and speak clearly, and some of us feel weighed down by the guilt of ambivalence.
This requires conversations. Open conversations. What we call Healthy Arguments. There are debates, where I must win or convince. There are negotiations, where we must reach a shared conclusion or decision. The kind of discussions we need now are of a third kind: The Healthy Argument where we learn, we grow, we gain more perspectives. A healthy argument creates a community of fellow-grapplers, even when they disagree.
Resisting Hatred
By Hamze Awawde & Magen Inon
We have grown up on opposite sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the occupied West Bank and the south of Israel. People assume we have no choice but to be enemies, embroiled in an existential and never-ending conflict in which there can never be any winners, only further division, tragedy and extremism. But, along with most ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, we do not have the luxury of giving up and letting extremists dictate our future.
In the News
It's Complicated: Pursuing Peace in a Time of War
By Emily Tamkin
The New Republic
"Even before October 7, Jonathan Kessler had as his screensaver the Tom Petty lyrics, 'Everything changed then changed again.'
"'For years, I’ve recognized that we’re living in an age of liminality,' said Kessler, who left the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2021 to start Heart of a Nation, with an aim ‘to empower emerging American, Israeli, and Palestinian changemakers to improve their political cultures.' He already knew, he said, that 'everything’s in transition.'
Horizon of Hope
Piercing the Darkness
By Kristina Mahr, Author and Poet
Van Gogh's last words were,
"The sadness will last forever."
He, who knew the dark. He, who nonetheless
painted stars within it.
And me, who knows it too. And me, who nonetheless
punched my fair share of holes within it
and shone a flashlight through them
and called them stars.
The sadness will not last forever.
I know because every day
I bloody my knuckles
in the pursuit of something I
might see by.
New Committee Members
Tal Zelinger
Tal is currently pursuing a degree in Law and Political Science at Reichman University, combining his academic pursuits with a passion for global diplomacy. As Founder and President of The International Diplomacy Initiative (IDI), he works with embassies and think tanks throughout the world.
Mohammed Alsanah
Mohammed has participated in several peace-building organizations including: Tech2Peace, The Youth Peace Initiative, and The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel and Palestine. Previously, he played a pivotal role in managing data for patients with rare diseases in the West Bank and Gaza.
Samuel Nissim
Samuel has worked in the tech industry for 20 years, currently managing global teams in the healthcare space. He is also building a new company focusing on personal financial management and is a principal of a real estate investment firm.