(NIF US) Between Grief and Peace: A Conversation with Aziz Abu Sarah, Maoz Inon, and Mika Almog
Tuesday, April 14
11 AM ET | 10 AM CT | 8 AM PT
Virtual—Zoom link provided upon registration
This Yom Hashoah, NIF invites you to explore the intersections of personal loss, reconciliation, and the pursuit of peace. Featuring Palestinian and Israeli activists and authors Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon and writer Mika Almog, moderated by NIF Vice President for Public Engagement Idit Klein. The program marks the publication day of Aziz and Maoz’s powerful book, The Future is Peace.
SPEAKERS
Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian peacemaker, co-founder of InterAct International, and co-author with Maoz Inon of The Future Is Peace, forthcoming from Crown Publishing in 2026. The loss of his brother, who had been detained in an Israeli prison, was a turning point. Aziz’s grief and initial desire for revenge transformed into a lifelong commitment to reconciliation. From his roots in Jerusalem, he has become a global advocate for peace, implementing projects in over 80 countries. In 2009 he co-founded MEJDI Tours, introducing the groundbreaking Dual Narrative™ approach with Israeli and Palestinian guides leading tours together.
Maoz Inon is an Israeli social entrepreneur, co-founder of InterAct International, and co-author with Aziz Abu Sarah of The Future Is Peace, forthcoming from Crown Publishing in 2026. After losing his parents in the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, Maoz transformed his grief into a global call for reconciliation. From grassroots communities to universities, parliaments, and international forums, he inspires audiences with his conviction that “Peace is possible” and “Hope is an action.”
Mika Almog is an Israeli writer and peace activist. After a decade in television and a decade in journalism, Mika was fortunate enough to make peace-seeking her full-time job. She serves as Content Director for It’s Time – the Coalition of Peace Organization since its inception in May 2024.
MODERATOR
Idit Klein is the VP for Public Engagement at the New Israel Fund. From 2001 to 2025, she served as the founding CEO of Keshet. Under her leadership, Keshet mobilized tens of thousands of rabbis, educators, and other Jewish leaders to make LGBTQ+ equality a communal value and priority for action. Prior to leading Keshet, Idit worked in the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement and social justice sector in Israel, including at Shatil. She was a leader in the Israeli LGBTQ+ community and helped envision the Jerusalem Open House
COSPONSORS
About The Future is Peace
In The Future Is Peace, Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon take readers on a transformative weeklong journey across a sacred and bloodstained land. Facing competing narratives, they explore how compassion and unity can pull humanity back from the precipice of blind hatred. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much loss, how can we ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it.
This book is a rebuttal to a broken world and a bold challenge to the belief that more violence can ever bring security. Told with unflinching honesty, their story is proof that peace is not a naive dream, but a courageous choice—for reconciliation to heal the wounds of revenge, for partnerships to change a destiny of war, and for empathy to save us from drowning in sorrow.
Pairing unapologetic candor and inspirational prose, Sarah and Inon are sending an urgent message that the people have the power to make change. Peace is inevitable. For Palestinians, for Israelis, and for the world that awaits their example, it is not just possible—it is the future.
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“A book of hope in a time of despair. After unbearable personal suffering, Aziz and Maoz refuse to give up on a shared future in Israel Palestine. Here they show us how it can, and must, happen.” — Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winner and former Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent.”We need this book to repair our damaged faith in the future.” — Ece Temelkuran, award-winning novelist and political commentator. “A remarkable book, carefully constructed and heartbreakingly true. As a guide to the torn heart, it allows a vision of repair.” |