Akashma Online News

by Marivel Guzman

Gideon Levy, journalist and author

Gideon Levy, journalist and author, born in Occupied Palestine in 1953 in Tel Aviv, is an Israeli anti-Zionist that has made his mission to write everything about the Israeli occupation, and the dehumanization of Palestinians. He is without a doubt a courageous man, a man of integrity that puts the truth before his own personal security.

“As the late Goldwyn Mayer phrased once, After the Holocaust the Jews has the right to do what ever they want. It took me some years to realize that this old outcome of ongoing process very systematic of dehumanizing the Palestinians which enable the Israelis to feel good about themselves, to feel moral to feel even democrats while, when it comes to the Palestinians they behave so different, I can tell you is a deep conviction that any Israeli, left, right, center does not treat the Palestinians as not equals.” Excerpt from an interview for the film “How we can solve the Palestinians Israeli Problem” by Sami Moukaddem

Gideon Levy is a rare voice of courage in an Israeli media generally supine towards the political establishment. Since 1988, he has written the “Twilight Zone” column for the Israeli daily Haaretz, documenting unflinchingly the myriad cruelties inflicted on the Palestinian people under occupation. Electronic Intifada
Levy was the recipient of the Euro-Med Journalist Prize for 2008; the Leipzig Freedom Prize in 2001; the Israeli Journalists’ Union Prize in 1997; and The Association of Human Rights in Israel Award for 1996.
They haven’t succeeded in silencing me, said Levy.

“I will continue to write about the brutality of this war, about the atrocities, the mass killing of civilians and the horrifying destruction in Gaza.”
Dehumanization allows Israel to strengthen its occupation and deny Palestinians rights, said Levy.
“Gideon Levy is the most hated man in Israel – and perhaps the most heroic. This “good Tel Aviv boy” – a sober, serious child of the Jewish state – has been shot at repeatedly by the Israeli Defense Force, been threatened with being “beaten to a pulp” on the country’s streets, and faced demands from government ministers that he be tightly monitored as “a security risk.” This is because he has done something very simple, and something that almost no other Israeli has done. Nearly every week for three decades, he has traveled to the Occupied Territories and described what he sees, plainly and without propaganda. ” The Independent, September 24, 2010
“My modest mission,” he says, “is to prevent a situation in which many Israelis will be able to say, ‘We didn’t know.’” And for that, many people want him silenced.

For some Israelis, he is seen as a brave disseminator of the truth. But many others condemn him as a propagandist for Hamas. And his columns for the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper have made him, arguably, one of the most hated men in Israel.

“When I joined Haaretz newspaper, I started to visit the occupied territories,” Levy says. “I immediately realized this was what I wanted to do; to understand the brutality and inhumanity of the Israeli occupation.”

“I figured out three things. First, this was the biggest drama facing the state of Israel. Second, this story was not being covered by the Israeli media. And third, this was going to be my life mission – to report about the Israeli occupation to Israeli readers who did not want to know what was really happening
there.”

Israeli journalist Gideon Levy argues that Middle East peace will never come until the Israeli government drops its rejection of basic Palestinian rights. “Sure Israel wants peace, Israel just doesn’t want a just peace,” Levy says. “It is all about justice. You look backward and you ask yourself in which stage, in which moment, was Israel willing to give up the occupation? Give me one example in which there was a genuine readiness to put an end to the occupation. It was never there. It was all about gaining time and maintaining the status quo — namely the West Bank occupied, Gaza under siege, peaceful life in Israel. … If you want the ultimate proof for it, it’s the [West Bank] settlements. Israel never stopped building settlements, and [in doing so] says to the Palestinians and the world, [we] have no intention to give up this piece of land.” Levy also discusses why he has received threats after calling on Israeli Air Force pilots to refuse to bomb Gaza, and why he sees a potential Palestinian effort to take Israel to the International Criminal Court as a positive step.

Gideon Levy (21:53)

This is 1 part of 7 of Gideon Levy Presentation in Toronto.