A single word for hello or goodbye is “shalom” in Hebrew and “salaam” in Arabic. It means peace - but does either side really want peace? Yes, there are groups and individuals who want peace, and who have close friends in each other’s camps, but more is done to hamper peace than to encourage it.

There are countless examples. Here are but a few.

The planned three-day event was to have included a panel discussion between Jewish and Arab academics, a night of community singing in Hebrew and Arabic, and, of course, displays of books in both languages. The excuse that the municipality reportedly gave for the cancellation was the sensitive security situation. The fact that the fair was a cultural event aimed at promoting mutual understanding and respect was obviously ignored.

In Jerusalem, Arab families who have been living in their homes for decades, and who can trace ownership back to the era of Ottoman rule, have been evicted. Cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir make no secret of the fact that they would like to evict all Arab families and build new National-Religious neighborhoods for observant Jewish families.

None of the Jewish legislators in the Knesset is willing to sit in a government that includes representatives of Arab political parties, and the Arabs MKs, for their part, don’t want to sit in a purely Zionist government.

The Jewish radicals who keep attacking Palestinians and destroying their property are pouring fuel on the fire, as do Arab terrorists who attack Jews. Betar Jerusalem soccer fans, who for the most part are virulently anti-Arab, have to be controlled by police when the club plays Bnei Sakhnin, the best Arab soccer team in the country.

In their attempts to advance the Jewish narrative, some Israelis like to quote American non-Jewish author Mark Twain, who wrote of his visit to the Holy Land 160 years ago, that the country was primitive, rocky, and bare, repulsive and dreary, with hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere.

He was critical of everything except Jerusalem, of which he wrote in glowing terms. His criticisms are interpreted as a dearth in the population. If Arabs had lived in the land as they claim, they would have cared for it and made it flourish, say those who tend to think of Arabs in derogatory terms.

In addition, there is the high incidence of Arabs stealing from Jewish farmers, and the ongoing killings among Israeli Arabs themselves, with numbers for this year alone exceeding 100.

But there is a small ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Clergy and educators of most faiths agree that ignorance is the root of prejudice.

Social media feeds the world so many lies and distortions that truth is becoming increasingly elusive. This doesn’t just relate to Jews and to Israel, but also to Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular, as well as to minorities, celebrities, and, in fact, anyone who is targeted by a purveyor of malice.

Shiri Ourian, the executive director of the American Friends of the Parents Circle Families Forum, is thrilled that the Parents Circle in Israel has won its court case for the reinstatement of peace education in Israeli schools.

Three years ago, the Education Ministry banned the Parents Circle from high schools. But the organization petitioned again and again against this decision, and this month won its battle to have its dialogue program reinstated in Israeli schools.

The Parents Circle is composed of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in confrontation with the other side. Rather than seek revenge, they have opted for reconciliation and meet frequently to see each other as caring human beings and not as monsters.

The dialogue meetings in schools involve both Palestinians and Israelis.

The New York-headquartered Friends of the Parents Circle is made up of 850 Israeli and Palestinian bereaved families, some of whom find it easier to live in peace and harmony – and even affection with former enemies – when both are outside the Middle East.

The security situation and the limits that it imposed forced the postponement of an international conference on Contemporary Antisemitism at the University of Haifa.

The event is once again on the agenda and is scheduled to take place on July 7-9.

Considered to be a summit conference on antisemitism by virtue of the international standing of its 300 plus participants, it features among its speakers Deborah Lipstadt, former US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism and current professor at Emory University; Bernard-Henri Levy, philosopher, filmmaker, and bestselling author; Natan Sharansky, prisoner of Zion, former Israeli minister, and former head of the Jewish Agency; Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life; Moshe Davis, executive director of New York City’s Office to Combat Antisemitism; Dina Porat, former chief historian at Yad Vashem and professor emerita at Tel Aviv University; and David Hirsh, professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a leading scholar of contemporary antisemitism.

Topics to be discussed at the conference include antisemitism on university campuses, Holocaust denial and distortion, digital and AI-driven antisemitism, media narratives, anti-Zionism, antisemitism in Europe and North America, public policy responses, and emerging trends across the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and beyond.

In addition, participants will be given insights into the development of the Contemporary Antisemitism Studies Association (CASA), a new international initiative established as an essential vehicle for research collaboration, academic publishing, conferences, and scholarly infrastructure dedicated to the study of antisemitism. A global academic consortium, its foundations are in Haifa, London, and Philadelphia.

Former MK Einat Wilf, intellectual and post-October 2023 founder and leader of the Oz Party, which seeks to promote peace based on Arab and Palestinian acceptance of Zionism and the dismantling of Palestinianism as an ideology of suffering, displacement, and destruction, recently announced a new nationwide parlor meeting tour.

Oz promotes an advanced welfare state based on solidarity and mutual responsibility, with equal top-quality education, health, and welfare services for all sectors of the population. Oz organizes Hebrew and English parlor meetings throughout the country, and coming up this week is a meeting in Baka, Jerusalem, at the home of solar energy pioneer Yosef Abramowitz and his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman.

In addition to this meeting, the calendar for July is almost full with meetings in Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Beersheba, Netanya, Kibbutz Saad, Tel Aviv, and Kochav Yair. Details and registration are on the Oz website.

Incidentally, aside from being a compelling speaker, Wilf is also a prolific author. Her latest book, Peace, Not Now, was launched earlier this month in Tel Aviv, where she was joined by public diplomacy personalities Eylon Levy and Jonathan Elkhoury.

It was a big night diplomatically last Tuesday, June 16. British Ambassador Simon Walters was hosting a King’s Birthday reception; Somaliland Ambassador Mohamed Hagi was attending a reception honoring the visit to Israel by his country’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi; and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys was at the Hebrew University addressing the issue of security in Europe and the Levant.

Lithuanian Ambassador Audrius Bruzga was obviously present, and so was his colleague Gints Serafinovics, the ambassador of Latvia. Also in the audience was Malcolm Gafson, the chairman of the Israel-Ireland Friendship League.

It just so happens that Gafson’s grandmother was raised in Lithuania and was born in Riga, Latvia. Both ambassadors were pleased to hear him tell this to Budrys, even though he relayed the information in a rich Irish brogue. And, of course, he took full advantage of the opportunity to be photographed with Budrys.

Apropos Hagi, one of his previous appointments was as Somaliland’s representative in Taiwan. Both countries are diplomatically challenged by the paucity of countries that are willing to recognize their sovereignty and to enter into full diplomatic relations.

No doubt that Hagi and Taiwan’s representative in Israel, Abby Ya-Ping Lee, will have a lot to discuss. Lee is an ambassador in her own right, but cannot use her title in Israel, even though Taiwan has numerous ties with Israel and has supported Israel through many humanitarian initiatives since October 7, 2023.

On Wednesday, both President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and Hagi participated in the Israel Somaliland Business Forum at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, where both were keynote speakers.

Also among the speakers were Eden Bar-Tal, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry; Abdulnasir Ahmed Hersi, the governor of the Somaliland National Bank; and Marian Cohen, chairman of the Board of the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel. In addition to leading business figures, there were members of the Ambassadors Club of Israel.

Some of the former hostages of Hamas and members of their families, together with people who had been bereaved as a result of the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and assault, joined prominent personalities from Israel’s business community on the roof of the Azrieli complex in Tel Aviv at an event hosted by Danna Azrieli, who chairs the Azrieli Group.

The occasion was the launch of Mipo Nakum (From here we will rise), an exhibition and initiative of photojournalist Ziv Koren, who produced an exhibition and later a book on the October 7 war, and lyricist and best-selling author Noam Horev.

The exhibition remains on view on the roof. Taking its title to heart, former hostage Gadi Moses said: “We have no other option.”

It is impossible to determine exactly how many people were traumatized by the Hamas attack, and who are still suffering challenges to their mental health.

There are those who witnessed the callous killings by Hamas; there are survivors whose safe rooms were penetrated by Hamas; there are former hostages and their immediate families; there are evacuees who were displaced for long periods of time; there are people who lost jobs and business investments... and the list goes on.

Faculty members and students from universities across Israel were called to combat. Some fell in battle; some were severely wounded, and some are unable to escape the horrors they saw. Every institution of higher learning in Israel has staff and students who are deeply affected by the war and the amount of time they have spent on reserve duty.

To help them, the Afeka Academic College of Engineering inaugurated a Quiet Tent on campus. “Over the past year, we have seen firsthand the emotional burden many students are carrying,” said Afeka College President Prof. Yossi Rosenwaks.

The Quiet Tent was conceived by the family of an Afeka student who was haunted by PTSD and committed suicide. Forty-two percent of Afeka’s students were and still are called up for reserve duty while trying to pursue their studies.