On 7 October 2023, a brutal Hamas terror attack wiped out the lives of hundreds of people in Israel. Since then, the violence has escalated: in Gaza, in Israel, in Lebanon. The world is holding its breath. And yet something crucial is missing, here in Germany too: a shared place for grief.

No room for collective empathy

Anyone who publicly mourns the dead in Israel today is all too quickly suspected of downplaying war crimes. Anyone who mourns civilians in Gaza is seen by many as a supporter of terrorists. This division is not only inhumane, it is politically dangerous. It splits our society into apparent camps instead of thinking of solidarity in its universal form.

And yet that is exactly what this should be about: life. Not only Israeli lives. Not only Palestinian lives. But every single one.

When dialogue is lost

In the political debate right now, it is not the nuanced voices that get heard, but mainly the loud and confrontational ones. Some put the right to retaliation above the right to life. Others deny the pain of the other side. Both attitudes have one thing in common: they stop us from even starting a conversation.

Too many contributions to the debate aim not at understanding but at ideological self-reassurance. The real reason for all of this, the unimaginable human suffering, fades into the background. That cannot and must not be.

What we need

What we need is a place, and an attitude, of grief that is not selective. That doesn’t only mourn “our” dead. That doesn’t demand you pick a side before you’re allowed to show compassion. We need spaces where we can be silent together, and find new words out of that silence.

We can’t carry on as if nothing had happened. But we can try to find a path that doesn’t lead to ever new confrontations, but to a new way of living together.

Maybe we can manage it. Together. What do you say?