Jewish-Arab kiss sparks online pleas for peace

An Arab-American journalist has sparked a flood of pleas for peace in Gaza after a photo she shared of herself kissing her Jewish boyfriend went viral.

Sulome Anderson posted the photo to Twitter with the message “He calls me neshama, I call him habibi. Love doesn’t speak the language of occupation #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies”.

After more than 700 deaths in Gaza, Israeli and Palestinian Twitter users are now showing their plea for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed by posting messages and photos of peace tagged with #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies.

An Orthodox Jewish man carrying a Palestinian boy on his shoulders and a girl sharing a kiss with her Jewish father and Muslim mother are among the myriad of photos campaigning for peace between the two warring sides.

“When it comes down to it, we’re people and we love each other and that’s what matters most,” she told ABC News.

“When we started dating, we would argue a lot about politics and slowly but surely, we started coming to some consensus,” Anderson said.

“We wanted to spread an idea that wouldn’t polarise, something that would be heard not just by the people who agree with us, but by those who don’t.” Ms Anderson told the LA Times.

“Militancy and anger haven’t helped bring this to an end.

“(Our discussions) often turned into arguments and sometimes flat-out fights. As the region exploded into war, we started to come closer together in our opinions given the fact that we both share critical values: respect and concern for human life.

“I’m not saying we reach a consensus on everything now. But we do agree on something: This isn’t just about politics. This is about people.” Almost inevitably, Sulome has received a backlash on social media.

She tweeted: ‘Being female feels pretty damn awful when publicly stating your opinion means u get called “b***” & “whore” by troglodytes on social media. I believe in this message. This isn’t the kind of exposure I want or need — but I’ll deal w the snarky remarks if it means people will hear it. [sic]’