'Hamas killed my parents on October 7 - I'd rather fight for ceasefire than over who's right'

Magen Inon's world turned upside down when both his parents were killed by Hamas in the horrific October 7 attack. Now, he's focused on changing reality and calling for an imminent ceasefire

A year has passed, and the war continues. When our parents were murdered by Hamas terrorists a year ago, we couldn't have imagined that the fighting would go on for an entire year.

Sadly, there's no end in sight. The personal tragedy we experienced has evolved into a series of worsening news for both Israelis and Palestinians. When Hamas attacked my home village and other villages in the surrounding area, they knew they would not be able to hold the territory for long.

Their horrendous attack was a cruel attempt to send a message: they were trying to teach the Israeli population that Israelis should not expect anything from Gaza apart from more and more violence, and so Jews living in Israel should leave. That is the long-term strategy of Hamas.

Israel's actions in Gaza, on orders from the far-right Israeli government, are also no longer aimed at ensuring the safety and security of Israelis. Instead, they are attempting to teach the residents of Gaza that they should not expect anything from the Israeli government apart from more violence, and so they should leave or, at the very least, never attempt to attack Israel again. This is the long-term strategy of the current far-right Israeli leadership.

In many ways, this has been the nature of the conflict for decades. Each side is trying to use violence to teach the other that they should give up. The result is that every iteration is more violent, and the lesson has not been learned by anyone. Those of us who advocate for peace are often called naive, but thinking that if you just hit someone harder they will finally learn the lesson is pure insanity. It is time we face reality: there are roughly seven million Jewish Israelis and roughly seven million Palestinians between the river and the sea, and no one is going away.

Menachem Begin, who was both the first right-wing Prime Minister of Israel and the first to sign a peace treaty, said: "War is avoidable, but peace is inevitable." At some point in the future, just like the French and the Germans, the English and the Scots, there will be an end to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The question is, how long will it take us to get there? Will we get there? Will our children? Our grandchildren?

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The pain and trauma of both sides are very real, and we must recognise that. It is hard for many to imagine a shared future. As an Israeli, it is especially hard when hostages are still being held in terrible conditions in Gaza. But over the past year, I've realised that a shared future based on respecting human values such as security, freedom, equality, and dignity is already the present-day experience for many; it is not a far-off future. This must be our long-term strategy.

I keep asking myself: how can we stop the war? Much of the discussion in the media does not focus on that question. It appears that many are more concerned with the question of who is right and who is wrong, whose actions are justified and whose are not. Yes, these questions are important, but being right will not bring back those who have been killed. We must stop trying to win the argument and focus on changing reality.

In many conflicts, there comes a point when the reason for the conflict is the conflict itself—a cycle of harming the other, being harmed, revenge, and payback. We deceive ourselves into believing that the next military success will be the one that ends the conflict. It won't. We need an immediate ceasefire followed by a process of rehabilitation and diplomacy.

The international community must pressure Israeli and Palestinian leaders with all the power it has to achieve that. You know what to do—do it. Stop the war.

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