This week, Parents for Peace team members Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, an Israeli-American psychologist, and Arno Michaelis, a former neo-Nazi turned peace activist, attended ADL’s Never Is Now event in New York City. They joined thought leaders and public figures—including Montana Tucker, David Schwimmer, and Gal Gadot—to address the rising tide of antisemitism.
Understanding Hate: From the Inside and the Outside
Miri and Arno bring two starkly different perspectives to the fight against hate. One has lived as the hater; the other has lived as the hated. Arno spent years immersed in white supremacist ideology, believing he had found a purpose, only to discover that hate was destroying him from within.
“I squandered seven years of my life in a hate movement before leaving for good. Those years were marked by misery—two suicide attempts, isolation, and a growing sense of emptiness. The more hate consumed me, the more depressed I became. I thought I was fighting for a cause, but in reality, I was destroying myself. Hate poisons everything—it isolates, feeds on paranoia, and robs life of joy. My turning point came when people I claimed to despise treated me with kindness, challenging the lies I had built my identity around. Breaking free from hate saved my life.”
Miri has spent her career treating the damage that hate leaves behind. As a clinical psychologist, lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Trauma Training at Parents for Peace, she has worked with families and individuals grappling with the psychological scars of extremism. Since the October 7 attacks, she has focused on addressing the traumatic impact of antisemitism, helping communities process the emotional toll of rising hate. Her work is grounded in science and healing—trauma-informed interventions, emotion regulation, and resilience-building—helping both survivors and families of radicalized individuals cope with the consequences. Where Arno speaks from the experience of someone who once spread hate, Miri speaks as someone who has helped people recover from its harm. Together, they offer a powerful approach to breaking the cycles of extremism—one that merges lived experience with clinical expertise.
Antisemitism is a Warning Sign
At Parents for Peace, we see how antisemitism fuels extremist movements. In 82% of the cases we’ve worked on, antisemitism has played a role—not just as an ideology, but as a force that isolates families and deepens radicalization. These aren’t just statistics; they represent real families struggling to pull loved ones back from the grip of hate.
But antisemitism doesn’t just harm Jewish communities—it also devastates the families of those who fall into it. Hate isolates, poisons relationships, and consumes a person’s sense of purpose with anger and resentment. What promises meaning and belonging instead leads to self-destruction—pulling people away from those who love them and trapping them in cycles of paranoia and violence. Hate doesn’t just destroy its targets; it destroys those who carry it.
The Only Way Forward is Together
Parents for Peace remains a nonpartisan organization. We are not here to solve Middle East geopolitics. But to our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world—including those in Israel—who feel alone and targeted after the horrific attacks of October 7, we stand with you. Antisemitism isn’t just a Jewish problem—it’s a warning sign of rising extremism that affects us all.
We cannot fight hate by excluding those with the most to lose from its rise. The only way forward is together.
