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Episode 17: Four Mothers: Orna’s Story

She was protesting a war she thought was futile—and then her son was killed in it. Hear the poignant story of Orna Shimoni, an Israeli woman who 20 years ago turned her pain into action—and today is inspiring a new generation of activists. A matriarch of Women Wage Peace, Shimoni was an early member of the Four Mothers movement in the late 1990s, who channeled her private grief over her son’s death into a wider movement for peace. She is now a model for women who are newer to peace activism—and a determined voice for political change.

Released October 19, 2017
  • Orna Shimoni talking to Can We Talk? Host & Producer Nahanni Rous, at Beit Eyal on Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov. Photo by Ned Lazarus.

  • Nahanni Rous and Orna Shimoni at The Hill of Plucked Flowers at Naharayim, a memorial to seven teenage girls killed by a rogue Jordanian soldier in 1997. Photo by Ned Lazarus.

  • A banner of Orna Shimoni's son Eyal, z"l, hangs over the pool at the Beit Eyal recreation center at Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov. The center is named for Eyal Shimoni, who was killed in combat in southern Lebanon in 1997. Photo by Ned Lazarus.

  • Orna Shimoni, with Nahanni Rous
  • The Hill of Plucked Flowers at Naharayim
  • Beit Eyal Recreation Center, Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Episode 17: Four Mothers: Orna’s Story." (Viewed on December 25, 2024) <https://jwa.org/podcasts/canwetalk/episode-17-four-mothers-orna-s-story>.