Two Israeli sisters raise GoFundMe for families in Gaza

Two Israeli sisters living in Aljezur have launched a GoFundMe to support peaceful Palestinian families in Gaza.

Talya Lewin Russell and Naomi Lewin believe that decades of ‘brainwashing’ on both sides, and powerful political interests that benefit from perpetuating fear, division, and conflict, have created this terrible reality.

As they say in their GoFundMe text, Gazans are living in an open-air prison – right now in “extreme heat, in temporary tents with no basic sanitation, dealing daily with rats and mice and impossible living conditions.”

The so-called ceasefire is just a word. “Every day, people are being killed”: It is almost impossible for Gazans to leave Gaza, even when they are on a World Health Organisation list, due to health conditions. No countries are prepared to take them.”

The sisters have tried multiple governments (they are connected by nationality to Canada, Belgium and Ireland – and they have reached out to Portugal, too) but “there is no political will to take in Palestinians”, and so they have done/ are doing whatever they can to help keep alive the faint hope of peace between two ‘warring factions’.

Together with, Noa, an Israeli peace activist/ artist, living in Israel, and about to host a peace festival in Florence*, the women maintain contact with two families in Gaza comprising around 23 people, trying to help them survive their exceptionally difficult lives .

This involves raising money every month for the two families in Gaza. “You cannot believe the prices in Gaza,” explains Talya. “Everyone is taking a cut. Even the free aid is being sold at the market . The prices are higher than New York…”

This article is designed to highlight the GoFundMe initiative, in the hope that other people might join in supporting these two Gazan families.

“We were born into this and it’s our responsibility to fix it. The whole system including the media is based on divide and conquer. We are not taught each other’s spoken language, so that we will not bond and discover how close we are. Palestinians and Israelis are brothers. There are a lot of peaceful people on both sides who want to find a peaceful solution. I feel we have connected to seeds of peace from the Palestinian side. These seeds must be cherished and protected.” Naomi Explains.

“We are brought up to believe they all want to kill us that they are our enemy,” Talya adds. “I had never met anyone from Gaza – but now that we have connected, I realise that there are amazing people among the Palestinians.”

In early 2025 Talya and Naomi met Imad and Ahmed, the fathers of each family, on a WhatsApp group for peaceful discussions between Israelis and Palestinians. After almost two years of constant connection and support, both sides feel like family.

The focus has also been on trying to bring these men, and their wider families, to safety; to get them out of Gaza. There is even the hope that Imad, a farmer (who had his home destroyed and land taken by the Israeli army) could somehow be brought here, “to farm, and grow the grapes and pomegranates that he used to have before everything was destroyed.” The sisters have sent Imad photographs of the Algarve countryside, and he delighted in imagining planting fruits and vegetables.

“This has become our life now,” say both. “Our father was born at the start of WW2 and survived the Holocaust. Our grandparents survived only because good people helped them. We are helping these Palestinian families, because governments are doing nothing. Nothing ‘meaningful’. They may say all the right things, but they continue selling arms to all sides, and not opening their borders to the Palestinian people pleading to escape a war zone. The hypocrisy is tremendous.”

“It is truly heartbreaking” says Talya. “I feel that Israel is an example of a country that has never fully processed the trauma of the Second World War and therefore fell into the trap of inflicting that trauma on another people. In my view, Israel has become the perpetrator of a genocide.

“I also believe the situation is deeply complex. Powerful political forces are behind this conflict. Unhealed trauma can perpetuate a cycle in which yesterday’s victims become today’s perpetrators. Had we truly processed our collective trauma, perhaps we would have broken that cycle instead of repeating it.

“Both Israelis and Palestinians are paying an enormous price. Both sides are being manipulated by powerful political interests that benefit from perpetuating fear, division, and conflict. Children aren’t born to fight and kill over land.”

But, as things stand, thousands in Gaza desperately need additional support to meet their most basic survival needs. After nearly three years of repeated displacement from their homes, many are living in dire circumstances and struggling to secure basics: food, shelter, clean water, and medical care.

Thus, if this story strikes a chord in any of our readers, they are encouraged to contribute to the GoFundMe; get in touch with Talya and Naomi – and perhaps show that there are more people pushing for peace, than those who believe that bombing and killing is the only option.

In the context of the peace festival, taking place in Florence in July, Talya has shared the thoughts being sent to the event by Imad: “Hello, I am Imad from Gaza.

“Like every father, I dream that my children can live in safety—that they can go to school without fear and sleep without the sound of war.

“We want nothing more than to live with dignity, for the world to see our humanity, and to know that we long for the day when peace and justice come for everyone—Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike.

“We do not call for war. We are people of peace.

“I hope that one day we will all live together in the embrace of that peace.

Thank you.”

The GoFundMe can be accessed here: https://gofund.me/efed05fe1 The funds are sent to Imad and Ahmed at the beginning of every month, reducing the balance to zero until support is raised again for the following month.

Some supporters are donating on a monthly basis, which is honestly what the sisters say is needed. They have thus started placing donation cans in different businesses and locations, in the Aljezur area. Questions, thoughts, comments can be emailed to [email protected]

*The festival in Florence is entitled: Re-Imagine Peace. It takes place on July 10 to 12. Further details online, but this is a teaser: https://www.facebook.com/AchinoamNini/videos/1021428140365610/