OneVoice Movement

OneVoice Israel hosts three-day “Help Bibi” block party

Three young boys write their suggestions for a peace framework during the "Help Bibi" campaign outside Independence Hall in Tel Aviv on July 27.

New York, July 28, 2011—OneVoice Israel is hosting a three-day block party outside Independence Hall in Tel Aviv as part of their “Help Bibi Complete the Israeli Peace Initiative” campaign from July 27-29. The movement is dishing out food, music, and politics—a trifecta for change.

The campaign comes less than two months before the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid for statehood in September. The intention of the campaign, which is simultaneously happening on Facebook, is to open the eyes of the Israeli public as to the lack of initiative from the Netanyahu administration.

“As long as we get excuses we will be struggling through the status quo,” said Tal Harris, executive director of OneVoice Israel. “Netanyahu only explains his problems and doesn’t try to solve them. If this continues, our chance for peace won't be more than a dream.”

The backdrop to the campaign features two “Help Bibi” billboards, a DJ providing music and entertainment, and free food and drink.  The public is encouraged to write suggestions on the billboards as to what a viable Israeli peace framework should look like or incorporate.

Members of the Knesset including MKs Yitzhak “Buji” Herzog (Labour Party) and Ilan Gilon (New Movement-Meretz), as well as Kadima members Meir Sheetrit, Yoel Hasson, and Shlomo Molla came out in support of OVI’s campaign. Israeli actor Moshe Ivgy also stopped by.

Herzog had some harsh words for Netanyahu’s inability to forge a peace framework.

"Public discourse …is very important, but the prime minister's stupidity [and] irresponsibility [of] not responding to the Obama initiative narrows the gap with the Palestinians for negotiations," he said.

Sheetrit agrees. "I see a clear link between the deadlock in the negotiations and the social and economic state [in Israel],” he said. “Security and the need to preserve it are indeed important and necessary, however they [become reasons] not to deal with social issues - and this danger is an existential threat to Israel. The government of Israel should accept the Arab [Peace] Initiative as the basis for new negotiations with the Palestinians."

Perhaps the deduction of a child can enlighten the Knesset to the wants and needs of the next generation. Ariel, 11, asked Ido, 12, what he was doing at the billboard. “It’s simple," he replied. "Take a second to think about what the Arabs want from us and what we want from them, [and] write it down [to] tell Bibi.”

OVI Executive Director Tal Harris and MK Yitzhak “Buji” Herzog (Labour Party) show off one of two "Help Bibi" billboards outside of Independence Hall on July 27.

Danny Shaket, OVI's coordinator of the Youth Leadership Program, discusses the campaign with an interested passerby on July 27.

Dana Sender, director of OVI’s Youth Leadership Program, watches Nir Eshet, 6, write “In order to bring peace, we will learn how to speak Arabic.”

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Top Ten Favorite Memories From IEP Tours

By China Sajadian

From Left: Rachel, China, Danny Shaket, Andy Shallal (Busboys and Poets restaurant owner), and Ahmad Omeir following a speaking event at Busboys and Poets’ Peace Café in Washington, DC, October 2010.

After three fulfilling years with OneVoice, I will be leaving my position as director of the International Education Program to pursue graduate studies at Columbia University.

I have worked alongside our Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders during 18 speaking tours and numerous public events from Los Angeles, California, to Greensboro, North Carolina, to Dearborn, Michigan. I leave you with some of my favorite memories from past IEP tours:

1. Seeing Danny and Ahmad’s personal stories interpreted in sign language at Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts university for the deaf in the world.
2. Witnessing Uri and Malaka (and countless others) get to know each other during their first meal together.
3. Attending a Ramadan Iftar at the Embassy of Bahrain and a Shabbat service at the historic Sixth and I Synagogue with Ari and Antwan in the same evening.
4. Joining Dana and Roza in a presentation at the 55th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
5. Waking up at 5 am to watch Dalia and Itamar’s live interview on the Tulsa morning news.
6. Moderating my first IEP event on stage at Elon University alongside Rami and Yaniv.
7. Joining Nisreen and Roi in one of our strongest tours to date even as “there could hardly be a less hopeful moment for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
8. Leading an interactive conflict resolution seminar with William and Daniella upon a special invitation from the Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College.
9. Addressing a packed auditorium with Dalia and Lee at Columbia University.
10. Witnessing Mohammad and Eliran move an audience to tears at the Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles.

These are just a handful of special experiences and visions of genuine conflict resolution that I have witnessed first-hand. Even during the toughest political moments, these tours provided the moderate, balanced voice that is so desperately needed to end this conflict.

OneVoice Palestine’s storyteller series expands to Jenin and Nablus

New York, July, 25, 2011—OneVoice Palestine (OVP) held a third and fourth performance of their storyteller series in villages near the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus on June 26, reaching over 500 children.

The first event was held in the village of Faquah outside of Jenin. Later the same day, a second performance took place in a public park amphitheater in the village of Asira ash-Shamaliya, just north of Nablus. It was organized by OVP youth leaders from the Nablus chapter.

“The children became more aware of the importance of building a future state,” said Malaka Samara, 32, who was in attendance. “They started to realize the Palestinian dream through the play, because theater is the language that everyone can speak and understand…this [type of learning] is our way to achieve our future, our dreams.”

Actor, Said Zarzar performs for 250 children in the village of Faquah outside of Jenin.

Khalid al-Massou, owner of the Inad Theater, introduces the play, The Dreams of Said, the Storyteller, to 300 youths in the village of Asira ash-Shamaliya, six kilometers north of Nablus.

Actor, Said Zarzar entertains 300 children in an outdoor amphitheater in the village of Asira ash-Shamaliya, six kilometers north of Nablus.

Khalid al-Massou infiltrates the audience to collect the visions and hopes of the youth for their 2018.

Political Elites Have Failed Israelis and Palestinians

By Dr. Howard Sumka*

Weeks away from the anticipated and highly contentious United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood, it's timely to ask what went wrong and what might move the issue in a better direction. Despite fears of the Palestinian streets reacting in frustration, it is appropriate now to look to the street for the solution.

Hand-wringing about the coming "diplomatic tsunami," as the Israelis have dubbed it, has dominated the attention of Middle East analysts. While the elites bumble along, public opinion polls consistently demonstrate broad support on both sides for a two-state solution. It may not be clear exactly what end-state they envision or what process they think might get them there, but that a large majority aspires to a stable, conflict-free future is unmistakable.

The United States has made clear its opposition to the matter going to the UN, accusing the Palestinians of unilateralism and sensing a plot to delegitimize Israel. As opposition to the UN vote by the US and, to some extent, Europe has crystallized, the Palestinian political leadership has wavered, many fear the West will follow through on its threats to cut off the assistance that has guaranteed the Palestinian Authority its fiscal viability and largely bankrolled Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's state-building program.

The US, where resolutions threatening to do just that recently won overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, has made clear that it is willing to let four years of exceptional economic growth and institutional development get wiped out. With only sporadic, begrudging, and anemic support from the Arab states, the PA already finds itself in dire financial straits, having been unable to meet its payroll fully or on time for two months.

Ironically, the US, which has invested about $2 billion to help the PA realize its vision of statehood and which has enthusiastically and repeatedly touted its success, now finds itself arguing vehemently against international recognition of their statehood. It is working to undermine moves in that direction -- no matter that the US has recently recognized the new states of Kosovo, East Timor, and South Sudan, all with governments no better equipped than the PA to run a state. And now it has awarded diplomatic recognition to the Libyan rebels, who have no government at all.

That the Obama Administration would likely take a very different approach but for its fear of the implications for the 2012 elections matters little to the Palestinians, who no longer feel they have a friend in America. The clearest signal came with the UN Security Council vote on the settlements resolution, when the US found itself vetoing the very language it had been using for decades. America's UN Ambassador Susan Rice found herself hard-pressed to make a coherent post-vote statement. And for the first time in recent memory, Palestinian youth went to the streets in Ramallah to denounce America. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's masterful manipulation of US politics, however, the handwriting was clearly on the wall. The US position will not budge. Senator George Mitchell's resignation as the Special Envoy and the recent failed Quartet meeting capped the nearly universal pessimism.

The US, cautioned by many to stay out of the Middle East morass until the parties themselves show more commitment, has unfortunately done grievous injury. A process that was moribund is now in crisis. An exceptionally unified Israeli leadership is unwilling to negotiate except on terms unacceptable to the Palestinians, while the fractured Palestinian leadership is simply unable to bring itself to the negotiating table.

The Arab Spring has demonstrated the power of the masses to effect broad political change even if we still don't know exactly where those changes will wind up. Palestinians too have begun to demonstrate peacefully for change. The March 15 movement helped push Fatah and Hamas to reconciliation talks, and thousands of Israelis and Palestinians marched through Jerusalem to voice their frustrations and support for a sovereign Palestinian state.

Despite the unlikelihood that the negotiators will return to the table before September, never mind reach agreement on anything significant, we can't just walk away. It's time to recognize that the political elites have failed and drive the process from the grassroots. Non-violent mobilization on both sides, clearly aimed at the only viable, long-term solution of two-independent states will force the entrenched elites to think again about what they have been doing for two decades. Using social media to catalyze action, as it has throughout the Middle East, activists can get the message out.

Each side needs confidence that it has a partner for peace. Each needs to understand the essential simplicity of the solutions to the core issues. And each must convince its leaders it is ready to make the essential but painful compromises.

*Dr. Howard Sumka is CEO of OneVoice, leading the movement's efforts toward a two-state solution for Middle East peace. He was director of USAID's Mission to West Bank-Gaza. Follow Dr. Howard Sumka on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HowardSumka.

The article was originally published by The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-howard-sumka/political-elites-have-fai_b_908211.html

Skype provides OneVoice youth leaders greater inroads into British schools

OneVoice youth leaders participate in communications training for British school sessions via Skype in June and July.

New York, July 22, 2011—Three time zones and over 2,000 miles separate Britain from the Holy Land, but distance and time need not apply when different peoples with similar passions can be in one room at the same time with the help of the aptly named World Wide Web. 

OneVoice youth leaders are increasing their presence in British schools with the help of Skype, a popular Internet communication software free to download. The method of virtually conducting Q&A sessions with youth leaders allows the British students to ask questions of those living and searching for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the day-to-day.

OneVoice Europe conducted five school sessions in Manchester, London, and Birmingham with 10 youth leaders – one from OneVoice Israel and one from OneVoice Palestine per session – in June and July. The ages of the students ranged from 15 to 17 years and were organized in groups of 30 to 60 people on average.  OVE is already booking sessions for the next academic term.

“An important teaching point of the session is that understanding the interests behind each side’s position is crucial to resolving a conflict,” said Sharon Alsoodani, director of outreach and education for OVE. “Many students come to these sessions with perceived stereotypes, but the Skype session allows face-to-face experience with Israelis and Palestinians in a setting where it otherwise would never happen.  Technology allows our youth leaders to become real people and not just a “label.”

Youth leaders underwent communication and cultural sensitivity training and recorded their personal stories prior to the Skype sessions in order to better articulate the importance of conflict resolution in the respective British communities.  Emphasized by several youth leaders was the importance of not being pro-one side or the other, but being pro-agreement and doing everything possible to support moderate Israelis and Palestinians who want this conflict to end as soon as possible.

High-profile questions were not lost on the teenagers.  The internal politics of Israel and Palestine were popular targets, including the recent boycott law passed by the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian bid for international recognition by the United Nations.

Alsoodani said that many students were excited to see young activists from both societies working towards a shared goal of peace and equal rights, and the discussions sparked an interest in academic and personal exploration of the conflict.

“This issue is a very important [one] to me as I have had friends and family affected by what I personally would call a brutal regime,” said one student from Manchester. “I will be contacting OneVoice for help and information that will go toward my project: ‘Is it a blessing or a curse to be Palestinian’...so a massive thank-you on trying to raise awareness.’”

NEST Consulting helps OneVoice Israel hatch new generation of negotiators

New York, July 21, 2011—A select group of highly active OneVoice Israel (OVI) youth leaders are strengthening their communication and negotiation skills through a training series run by NEST Consulting every Thursday during the month of July.

NEST Consulting was founded by Moty Cristal, who uses his vast negotiating experience from the Camp David and Taba Summits to design unique workshop programs. NEST’s trainings for OVI are punctuated by hypothetical simulations and outdoor activities that allow the 25 youth leaders to exercise their new skills. The first two sessions, on July 7 and 14, were deemed a success by staff and youth leaders. Two more workshops are scheduled for July 21 and 28.

“Often, we don’t pay attention to the way we say things or communicate our ideas,” said Vanessa Seyman, 33, head of Research & Development and Training for NEST Consulting. “[OVI youth leaders] need to advocate their agenda and they need to know the right way to pass on their message or knowledge to accomplish their ultimate mission [of a two-state solution].”

Yoav Shechter, 29, has been a youth leader with OVI for more than four years. As an engineer focused on sales and marketing, one of his main tasks is negotiating contracts with customers. He expected to learn a lot from NEST’s negotiation training series.

“The training program comes from the real life examples of Moty Cristal and the political processes that he experienced,” said Yoav. “[As a result of the training] we youth leaders are better equipped to stand in front of an audience and convince people.”

Youth leaders can also apply the principles they are learning to their everyday life in their careers, personal relationships, and as advocates for OVI.

“Youth leaders can now use their skills to more effectively relate to the people during campaigns, listening and using context clues to know what people care about,” said Danny Shaket, OVI’s Youth Leadership Program coordinator. “For instance, if someone mentions security concerns, then youth leaders will talk about a two-state solution in terms of security concerns.”

Youth leaders are challenged to put their training to the test immediately. Hitting the streets of Tel Aviv after the first training, youth leaders engaged people on the Help Bibi campaign, an initiative that invites Israelis to help PM Benjamin Netanyahu complete the missing parts for an Israeli peace initiative.

One simulation exercise involved dividing youth leaders into pairs. One youth leader received a hypothetical sum of money and had to offer their partner a share. They could offer only once and no counter-offer was allowed. If there was no agreement, neither partner received any money.

“It was interesting because everyone got the same amount of information before the exercise began and everyone had the same scenario yet every pair got to a different outcome,” said Yoav, who successfully offered his partner a 50/50 deal. “In actual negotiations it is far more complex but it is built upon these principles and power balances.”

Led by NEST Consulting top-trainer Tali Rabinovitch, these training seminars teach OVI youth leaders how to communicate within Israeli society as well as with their Palestinian partners.

“[NEST Consulting] develop[s] specialized training,” said Vanessa. “Different cultures have different ways of negotiating and communicating. NEST Consulting’s methodology aims to facilitate negotiations across cultures.”

Yoav Shechter takes notes at the NEST consulting training seminar on July 7, 2011.

Twenty-five of the most highly active OVI youth leaders listen intently to the NEST Consulting training seminar on July 7, 2011.

OneVoice joins Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster in conference on Christians in the Holy Land

New York, July 20, 2011—OneVoice joined the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols at Lambeth Palace, London on July 18 and 19 to discuss the situation of Christians in Israel and Palestine.

OneVoice Israel Executive Director Tal Harris and OneVoice Palestine Executive Director Samer Makhlouf were two of several noted guests invited to speak on issues raised by the archbishops, such as Christian emigration and the disappearance of historic Christian communities from the Holy Land.

“[T]he conference will give us an opportunity to examine some of the reasons so many people are leaving, and also ask us the question: what we can do to help those Christians who so urgently want to stay in their Homeland, and to imagine a future there for themselves,” Archbishop Williams said in his appeal to the General Synod earlier this month.

The audience was a mix of religious sects from the Christian and Jewish communities, as well as academics, politicians and non-governmental organization representatives. 

John Allen of National Catholic Reporter moderated the event, and religious figures included Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., consultant to the Armenian Orthodox Church in the UK Dr. Harry Hagopian, and Most Revd. Dr. Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin. Dr. Hans Gert Pottering, chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Foundation and former president of the European Parliament, rounded out the panel.

John Lyndon, executive director of OneVoice Europe, said the cordiality of the audience and panelists invoked a mood of support of not only the Holy Land’s Christian community, but for actively working toward a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“People often talk about the conflict as solely between Jews and Muslims, but there are indigenous Christians who have a stake in a peaceful resolution, and religious communities in Britain want to support them,” said Lyndon. “OneVoice would like to promote its work toward a politically negotiated, two-state solution as the only viable option among British religious groups as they seek to bolster Christian communities in the Holy Land.”

Makhlouf, a Palestinian Christian, believes that his own identity engenders a special position in ending the occupation and supporting a two-state solution, and he echoed Lyndon’s comments.

“Like many other Christians in the Holy Land, there is a conflict between the identities,” he said. “Am I Palestinian? Am I Christian? Then I discovered the great combination [and] when you discover this very special role…you think really that you are a messenger [and] you have a very great responsibility in your society.”

Faced with negativity on the ground, Harris philosophized, “how can you not have your demonstration feel like just a castle in the sand washed away by tomorrow’s headlines?”

He provided a compelling answer: “Our mission now is to set our feet down and get our hands dirty and [build] peace practically, not with words, but with legislative actions and with campaigning around specific issues. People like me and movements like ours…are ready to embrace [British religious groups’] interests in our region."

Listen to Samer Makhlouf's opening remarks.

  

  

   

Women's Vital Role in the Palestine-Israel Conflict

By Jennifer Prystupa*

Abeer Natsheh and Malaka Samara believe that women can play a vital role in promoting a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It is often said that behind every great man, there is a great woman. Perhaps behind every great movement, there are many determined women seeking to change the situation for the betterment of all.

Senior youth leaders Roza Helou, Abeer Natsheh, and Malaka Samara are three such women from OneVoice Palestine (OVP), a branch of the OneVoice Movement.  OneVoice is an international grassroots movement founded in 2002 with parallel branches in Israel and Palestine advocating two states for two peoples. Over 4,000 Israeli and Palestinian youth, ages 18-34, have been engaged by OneVoice, and about 60% of OVP’s volunteers are women.

Helou, Natsheh, and Samara were gracious enough to sit down and talk about the role of women in the movement’s quest to seek a peaceful political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

OneVoice: What can Palestinian women provide to help solve the conflict?

Abeer: The history of the Palestinian people was in agriculture, and the role of women used to be in the field. Now it is in the city. We see a link between an improved economic situation and increased women’s involvement in several segments of society, including ministry, security, and education.

Women also have the ability to say less but give more of an impression. If you look to any kind of society, a man has to be very powerful to get people to listen. But when a woman starts to talk, her existence on a platform gives people the impression that she has something important to say.

Malaka: Women have two advantages working with the movement. First, we have the ability to go to conservative communities and speak to the women there, as opposed to men. Some religious men do not accept strange men in their wives’ presence.  The movement understands that it is important for all women to be part of political life, and so it is easier for us to spread the message to them. Secondly, there can be problems for our men to attend movement events or tours because of checkpoints or visa issues. That is where the women have to step up and represent OVP. 

Roza:  A woman is a mother in the beginning and is the first educator of the next generation. As Abeer said, the role of women changed dramatically, and women can now stand side-by-side, equal with men, to end the conflict.

OneVoice: Let’s talk about your experiences as a women involved in OVP in the search for a two-state solution. What kind of challenges have you faced?

Abeer: When I put the idea on the table to my family, it was very hard for a very political family to understand that their daughter is coming from a different track. I also told them, I won’t get married until I get a state with 1967 borders. They expected me to get married and have children right after my sister did eight years ago.  I’m sticking to what I believe and I cannot bring a child into such a conflict.

OneVoice: Does anyone else have family conflicts when it comes to your views?

Roza: Abeer and I come from the same background. I have the same problem, but my parents never try to steer me toward their ideas. They give me the freedom to choose my path. I have friends that are politically conservative, but I believe, realistically, that the only solution that is valid is the two-state solution.

It’s difficult to convince people that you want a state on the 1967 borders next to Israel while settlements and the wall continue to be built. There are many Palestinians giving up because of those actions. If we keep going on without a solution, there will not be a state to call Palestine. For me, I don’t want to wait another 20 years for it to happen.

Malaka:  All our work with OVP is a challenge since we are working on a two-state solution. At times, it makes other Palestinians think that we are taking away their dreams and they get upset and confront us. This is especially prevalent in refugee camps when we mention our vision.

I come from Tulkarem, and I think I am the only woman in the town involved with the organization. My mother and other people ask me why I do such things, why I get so engrossed in OVP.  I understand my mother’s concerns for me, her concern for how other people in my hometown think about me.  But I constantly think about how I can convince the people in my small town that the two-state solution is the only solution.  I feel that it is my message and my role as a strong woman to tell them.

*Jennifer Prystupa is the communications intern at OneVoice. Her article was originally published on PolicyMic:  http://www.policymic.com/articles/women-s-vital-role-in-the-palestine-israel-conflict

OneVoice talks lessons of Arab Spring for Israel and Palestine

From left: OneVoice Israel Executive Director Tal Harris, Rt. Hon. Dr. Denis MacShane MP, RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor, OneVoice Palestine Executive Director Samer Makhlouf, and Dr. Claire Spencer examine lessons for of Arab Spring for Israel and Palestine at Royal Society of the Arts on July 14.  

London, July 14, 2011—Leaders of the OneVoice Movement examined the lessons of the Arab Spring and the potential for mobilizing the grassroots as a force for peace between Israel and Palestine at the Royal Society for the Arts on Thursday.

An audience of 180 listened to and interacted with a panel of speakers, including OneVoice Israel Executive Director Tal Harris and OneVoice Palestine Executive Director Samer Makhlouf, who debated the failure of politicians to forge a successful framework. The speakers agreed that the masses must take the initiative to secure a peaceful future. 

“The elites have duped the Israeli people into seeing success as perceptual conflict management,” said Harris. “It is our job to show Israel that it can end the conflict and change its own circumstances.”

The debate, moderated by RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor, offered the opportunity for grassroots, academia, and the political elite to collect their thoughts on where things are headed in the Middle East at this uncertain time. The Rt. Hon. Dr. Denis MacShane MP, former British foreign office minister, and Dr. Claire Spencer, head of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, rounded out the group of panelists.

The notion that Middle Eastern nations are ruled by nepotistic dictators is coming to a close. There is wide agreement among the populace that freedom is a fundamental human right of all peoples and their life, voice, and vote are more important than ever.

“Palestinians taught the Arab people how to take charge with the first intifada [uprising], but we need our brothers to remind us of our own power,” said Makhlouf. “The people are no longer willing to allow the elites to fail again and are taking their struggle against the occupation and for freedom to the streets.”

Dr. MacShane struck a note of caution by warning that grassroots activism – however well intentioned – still required responsible political leadership to produce tangible results. “The Arab Spring, I’m afraid… is lacking a clear political platform and true change will require resilient leadership,” he said.

“It’s been fantastic to have such a cross-section of opinion and analyses this evening,” said John Lyndon, executive director of OneVoice Europe. “For too long, this conflict has been trapped in grim certainties and crippling inertia. What we have heard this evening demonstrates that – perhaps for the first time in a generation – the ground beneath the feet of the political leadership is shifting. Moderates on both sides must now unite to ensure that their leaders respond bravely before this opportunity for transformational change is lost.”

OneVoice Israel wins national Effie Award

From left: Nimrod Nir and Asa Shapiro of The Brief pose with OneVoice Israel Executive Director Tal Harris and former Campaign Manager Daniella Shlomo at the national Effie Awards in Tel Aviv on July 10.

New York, July 14, 2011—OneVoice Israel (OVI) took third prize in the nonprofit organizations category for their Imagine 2018 campaign at the 2011 national Effie Awards July 10 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The Effies are gifted to organizations with the most effective marketing and advertising campaigns.

Executive Director Tal Harris and former Campaign Manager Daniella Shlomo worked on the campaign, known in Israel as “Creating Tomorrow, Today” with the help of Nimrod Nir and Asa Shapiro from marketing agency, The Brief.

“It is amazing that the whole advertising industry recognized that we really got the message to the public,” said Shlomo. “Winning this award reaffirmed what I felt from the beginning: that we can have a huge impact and get people talking about the situation.”

Nir and Shapiro stepped up to the plate when approached by OVI with their idea and were more than happy to help.

“Instead of telling [OVI] what we thought was right for them, we asked them for the solution,” said Nir. “They generated the content and all we did is magnify and megaphone their visions of peace. We usually sell cheese or cars, but now we’ve sold hope.”