Vivian Silver was a Canadian-Israeli peace activist and women's rights activist.
24 Facts About Vivian Silver
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Vivian Silver was murdered in the Be'eri massacre, a part of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
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Vivian Silver studied abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she studied psychology and English literature.
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Vivian Silver was heavily involved in the North American Jewish Students Network, where she was the administrator of the Jewish Student Press Service beginning in 1972.
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Vivian Silver immigrated to Israel in 1974 and became a member of kibbutz Gezer as part of the Habonim Dror movement.
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Vivian Silver worked within the Knesset on the sub-committee for the Advancement of Women in Work and the Economy, for the New Israel Fund, and on the Steering Committee of Shatil.
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Vivian Silver moved to Be'eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border, in 1990, along with her husband and two sons.
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Vivian Silver served as executive director for the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development beginning in 1998.
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Vivian Silver worked within the kibbutz to organize programs to help Gazans, such as job trainings, and ensured that Gazan construction workers at the kibbutz were paid fairly.
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Vivian Silver served as the center's director prior to the second intifada.
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Vivian Silver was a former board member of B'Tselem, a Jerusalem-based human rights organization.
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Vivian Silver was involved with Alliance for Middle East Peace, as well as a number of their member organizations.
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Vivian Silver began volunteering with Road to Recovery and Project Rozana to transport Gazan patients who were traveling to Jerusalem for treatment.
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On October 4,2023, Vivian Silver helped to organize a peace rally in Jerusalem, which attracted 1,500 Israeli and Palestinian women.
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On October 7,2023, Vivian Silver was killed in the Be'eri massacre, an attack by Palestinian militants on kibbutz Be'eri, where she lived, as part of October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which marked the start of the Gaza war.
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Vivian Silver messaged friends on WhatsApp with a similar message.
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Vivian Silver was initially believed to have been abducted and taken to Gaza as a hostage.
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Vivian Silver's home was found burned and gutted when Israeli responders arrived, but because there was no body or signs of struggle, Silver was assumed to have been abducted.
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Silver's family and friends created a Facebook page "Missing Vivian Silver" to try to collect more information about her possible whereabouts and asked the Red Cross and the Canadian government for assistance in finding Silver and securing her release.
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Vivian Silver's remains, which had been found at the remains of her home, were identified by DNA testing five weeks after the attack, and she was confirmed dead on November 13,2023.
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Online tributes to Vivian Silver were posted by Canadian politician and human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler, Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly, Canadian ambassador to Israel Lisa Stadelbauer, and Israeli politician Tzipi Livni.
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Vivian Silver's funeral was held at the kibbutz of Gezer, where she had lived from 1974 until 1990, on November 16.
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Vivian Silver was buried in Be'eri at a private service.
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Vivian Silver was married to Lewis Zeigen and had two sons and four grandchildren.