Während der folgenden sieben Trauertage wurden die Menschen nicht müde, über Livnat zu sprechen, diese ganz besondere Frau, für die das Handeln zum Wohle der Gemeinschaft immer das Wichtigste war. Dies ist ein ungewöhnlicher Beitrag, und ich möchte ihn zu einem persönlichen Aufruf machen: „Helfen wir mit, Gutes an- stelle des Bösen in der Welt zu verbreiten! Bitte helfen Sie uns, Livnat Kotz‘ Wunsch zu erfüllen. Gehen Sie raus, engagieren sie sich und markieren Sie @livnat_wish auf Instagram. „Einfach nur Gutes tun“: Das ist alles, was sich die Menschen in Kfar Gaza wünschen, während sie davon träumen, in ihre Häuser im Kibbuz zurückzukehren. I am honored by the op- portunity and freedom that I was given by PROBAT to share my thoughts on the cur- rent conflict – Israel, West Bank, and Gaza – to describe how the current situation ref- lects on the Israeli coffee market and what impact it has on economy, business,and our society. With this request I took the immediate ini- tiative and went to visit our largest strate- gic customer in Israel in the coffee sector, Strauss Group Ltd. While I very well re- member at times my talks with Wim Abbing GASTBEITRAG ◊ GUEST COMMENTARY regarding the coffee market and shifting coffee market trends, I can say without any doubt that, indeed the coffee market is re- volving and during the war the coffee mar- ket is changing dramatically as well. During the visit I was a witness of amazing facts: Strauss, the main supplier of the Israeli market, barely manages to deliver the fa- mous black coffee (amusingly called “Tur- kish coffee” in Israel), which is very popular with the Israeli defense forces (IDF), during these days of war. The soldiers drink this coffee to help them stay awake as they are going almost without sleep day and night. In fact, the actual consumption of black Turkish coffee increased by 20%. The army trucks collect the coffee directly from the factory as soon as it is ready, unlike before the war when it was collected from the lo- gistics center. However, as much as I love to share my thoughts with you on coffee, currently, I tru- ly think it is more important in these diffi- cult times that I share with you the story of Livnat Kotz. Livnat is the sister of Ziv Lavi, who holds the position of site manager at the factory of Strauss Group LTD., one of Israel’s biggest coffee suppliers. Liv- nat was supposed to celebrate her 50th birthday on October 25, but on October 7 – the Black Saturday – she, her husband and their three children lost their lives in kibbutz Kfar Gaza. The five members of the family were found huddled in a bed in the shelter in their beauti- ful home in the village of the kibbutz Kfar Gaza. An entire family was wiped out: Livnat, her husband Aviv and their children Rotem Hayalat (19), Yonatan (16) and Yiftach (14) – the two sons were outstanding basketball players at Hapoel Tel Aviv‘s Basketball academy. As someone for whom giving to others was a significant pleasure, Livnat decided that she did not want a celebration by having a party and receiving gifts. Instead, she asked that all members of her family volunteer for an hour or two of social engagement and send her photographs. To honor Livnat’s wish, her family then launched a social me- dia campaign, asking everybody to help ful- fill Livnat‘s wish and to volunteer, post about it on social media and tag the family. MY KIBBUZ IS MY HOME After Livnat and Aviv got married, they first went to the United States, but then returned and started a family in kibbutz Kfar Gaza 19 years ago. For Livnat, the community was very important, the mutual responsibility and the feeling of being part of a greater whole. Even when her family tried to per- suade her to move to Gan Yavne, a city in the Centre of Israel, far away from missile strikes, she refused by saying: “ left the Uni- ted States and a comfortable life because I didn‘t feel like I belong there." On October 7, the kite festival, organized every year by Livnat‘s husband Aviv, was to take place on the soccer pitch in the village of Kfar Gaza. This field overlooks the Gaza Strip, and the colorful festival should be a symbol of peace. Aviv used to say: “The co- lorful kite festival was meant to show the neighbors in the Gaza Strip that we, the Israelis are peace-loving people only flying their kites!“ But then everything changed when the peo- ple of Israel were woken up that morning by the “Color Red Alert”, the country‘s highest alert level. Immediately, the extended Kotz family started calling each other to see if everyone had stayed unharmed. Everyone responded, except Livnat‘s immediate fa- mily. It was very unusual that all five were not available. Livnat‘s relatives waited in uncertainty for five days until the following Wednesday, when their worst fears were confirmed: Livnat and her family had been murdered. During the seven days of morning which followed, people did not stop talking about Livnat, this very special woman, who was all about giving, entrepreneurship and actions for the benefit of the community. This a very unique and different article and I would like to make this personal call: “Let’s help spread good around the globe instead of evil! Please help us fulfil Livnat Kotz’s wish. Go out, volunteer and tag @livnat_ wish on Instagram. “Just do good”: this is all that the people of Kfar Gaza ask for while dreaming of returning to their homes in the kibbutz. Tu einfach Gutes | Just do good 27