Voices from our Alumni

In January and March of the current year, delega4ons of Galilee Dreamer students and staff traveled to South Africa and the US. Perhaps you had the good fortune to meet some of them. They are now alumni of the program. Several of them recently engaged in a spirited WhatsApp conversation. As you might imagine, some of the Jewish students expected more compassion and understanding from the Arab students regarding the Hamas atrocities of October 7, while some of the Arabs expected more compassion and understanding from the Jewish students regarding the many civilian casualties of the current IDF campaign in Gaza.

Here are two quotes from that conversation which should bring us hope, one from Mohammed, an Arab and one from Barak, a Jew.

Mohammed- I am a human being before I am anything, and I sanctify every human being’s right to life. I cannot be optimistic at this time, but I believe that in the end there is hope, no matter how far away.

Thanks to my friends. Take care of yourselves. You are very dear to me and to many others. Please be ok. I believe that time will pass and our dream to live in peace will become a reality. Be patient.

Barak- Before we get into conversations about the current situation here, we need to make a clear

separation between supporting Palestine and supporting Hamas. Supporting Palestinians is a legitimate option. You don’t have to agree with it but the fact that the Palestinian people are suffering from this conflict is undeniable and, in my opinion, important to talk about. But supporting Hamas is a whole different thing. Hamas is a terror organization who committed inhuman acts of violence and slaughter of innocent civilians including babies and elders. That is not only an inhuman thing to do, but also a very non-Muslim thing to do. It shows that this organization and its values are no different than ISIS or Al-Qaeda. To support this kind of terrorism is not legitimate on any level.

In conclusion I think we should all take a deep breath before we write anything here and we should try to understand the pain that the other side is going through before we write out of anger and hate. I think the key is to start having a healthy conversation about the situation in this group because after all we had lots of experiences together and I don’t think anybody here wants to tear our connection apart.