Winnipeg female peace activist, 74, feared kidnapped by Hamas
Vivian Silver moved to a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip with her family 33 years ago
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Winnipeg-born Vivian Silver, 74, is feared to have been kidnapped by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, according to a report.
Silver, who the Canadian Jewish News says dedicated her life to peace, is presumed to have been abducted from her Kibbutz Be’eri home where she has spent decades in the peace movement workly closely with Gaza moderates.
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The publication says Silver moved to the kibbutz near the Gaza Strip with her late husband and two sons 33 years ago.
A lifelong friend, Michael Mitchell, told CJN that Silver was talking to her sister on the phone on Oct. 7, and said Hamas terrorists were at her door and outside her safe room.
“There was screaming and yelling and Vivian was fighting and then the phone went dead,” he said. “So, it’s pretty clear that they got to her one way or another.”
Mitchell said Silver’s kidnapping has yet to be confirmed but so far she’s not among the wounded in hospital or identified among the dead.
“We’re very much hoping and believing that she’s still alive and that somehow this will work out,” Mitchell said.
Added Mitchell’s wife Lynne to CJN: “And that all that she has tried to accomplish in her life, all her mitzvot, will stand her in good stead and keep her safe.”
The Mitchells first met Silver when they were all teenagers and stayed close over the years, visiting each other often.
“She has a million friends,” said Mitchell to CJN. “There’s just a huge network of people who love her. It’s just a factor of wherever she’s gone in her life, she’s spread this sense of community and love and humanity.”
The Mitchells saw Silver most recently in May when they visited her on Be’er and recalled the kibbutz didn’t have much security, with no guard at the front gate and residents leaving their doors unlocked.
Lynne Mitchell said she last spoke to Silver a week ago and the two women, who both have five-year-old granddaughters, discussed their respective “drama queens.”
“It’s hard to believe it was a just week ago that we spoke, completely oblivious to what the future holds,” she said.
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