Gideon Levy, a hero of our time

Discredited years ago. If he spoke in Israel he would be lucky to get 4 people in the audience.

“the right-wing American Jews who become orgiastic whenever Israel kills and destroys”

He's a palpable self-hating fool. Johann Hari makes a living from vilifying Israel.

Thanks for posting this clevenson, I went to see Gideon at Amnesty a few weeks ago, he is a very brave principled man. A staunch Zionist (of the decent kind) fearful and saddened by what Israel has become. Video here:

http://vimeo.com/14449546

He has packed in audiences up and down this country. You do a disservice to Israeli's JH, there are many people who are waking up to what is being done in their name.

Maybe you should try travelling to Gaza like Gideon has done before it was made illegal? Do you know how the 'other' side live? Do you give a damn?

(Quick check of anything that might trigger ambers wild accusations, yep I think I'm fine.)

Iesn't the fact that if he spoke in Israel he would be lucky to be heard by 4 people Levy's entire point ?

Is his point merely that Israeli society doesn't want to see or hear what is happening in the territories,barely 15 minutes from some of their homes.

Time only will tell us whether he is a true or a false prophet. If I were a gambler....

I would be interested to know when and how Levy was discredited and the nature of this discrediting. Or is this discrediting just more knee jerk bluster from Jonathan ?

btw Jonathan I still await an answer as to who are " my people " that are " irrelevant ignorant none entities " I know the " it only took two days " blog was shut down asap to get you off the hook.

your brothers influence ?

but be a man anyway and tell us.

Mybe we should organise a Jonathan Watch

Funny how all those who regularly demonize Israel like Levy. What do you say to the fact that he works for a paper whose editor contends that Israel "needs to be raped"? What do you think of Hari saying "Israel stinks of sh?t".

Perfectly acceptable no doubt to haters like you?

Jonathan, if you actually lived on israel instead of being a long distance Zionist, you'd be lucky to get yourself in an audience you are so out of touch.

If all Jonathan and Amber have are attacks on Gideon levy himself, but not on what he writes, then he must be writing reality.

If all Jonathan and Amber have are attacks on Gideon levy himself, but not on what he writes, then he must be writing reality.

http://www.justjournalism.com/media-analysis/view/viewpoint-hari-and-lev...

Er no telegramsam, I profoundly disagree with his writings - that is why I criticize him - why else?

Do you think it's OK to say "Israel needs to be raped"? Do you think, like Hari, that "Israel stinks of sh?t"?

Are these statements "constructive criticism of Israeli policy" or just plain hate speech?

Amber where do you get this stuff you kill me But I like you in a weird perverse kinda way

In fact, Levy self-discredited long ago. Each time Israel defended itself against terrorism, including during Cast Lead, Levy took the wrong side. He used his paper (not newspaper) Haaretz to demonize Israel and Tsahal. All what was written was never more than hearsay, although Levy presented it as facts. Someone who cannot discriminate facts and hearsay should not be called a journalist. So Levy is just another activist, who doesn't care about facts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Israel
shows the circulation of Israeli papers:
Yediot Aharonot - 300K to 600K
Israel HaYom - 255K
Maariv - 160K to 270K
HaAretz - 65 to 75K

HaAretz has been going down for a long time, as the old communists are dying in Israel and fail to reproduce.

Thanks for posting those stats, Jose!

clevenson: Great interview with Gideon Levy

clevenson, it's easy for your "hero" to give a "great interview" if he embroiders the facts, leaves out half the story, and hopes that nobody will check!

in that interview, levy makes exaggerated claims about a ten-year-old incident which were contradicted by a sympathetic but independent source at the time … that there were several soldiers shooting, that they were "trigger-happy", that "the car was full of bullets", that the whole thing was deliberate …

In the summer of 2003, he was travelling in a clearly marked Israeli taxi on the West Bank. He explains: “At a certain stage the army stopped us and asked what we were doing there. We showed them our papers, which were all in order. They sent us up a road – and when we went onto this road, they shot us. They directed their fire to the centre of the front window. Straight at the head. No shooting in the air, no megaphone calling to stop, no shooting at the wheels. Shoot to kill immediately. If it hadn’t been bullet-proof, I wouldn’t be here now. I don’t think they knew who we were. They shot us like they would shoot anyone else. They were trigger-happy, as they always are. It was like having a cigarette. They didn’t shoot just one bullet. The whole car was full of bullets. Do they know who they are going to kill? No. They don’t know and don’t care.”

the independent committee to protect journalists tells the full story, including the punishments of soldiers involved …

(the year is one out, but a cpj.org site-search for "gideon levy" reveals nothing similar, so it's clearly the same incident)

On August 11, Gideon Levy, of the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, his photographer, Miki Kratsman, their driver, and a representative from an international human rights organization were traveling by taxi in Tulkarem. As they approached the IDF's District Coordination Office (DCO) at about 15 kph (10 mph), they came under fire from a soldier at a lookout post about 150 meters (165 yards) away. Three bullets hit the armor-plated taxi's windshield, but no one was injured.

The journalists were operating in the area with permission from the IDF and were traveling in a white armored Mercedes with Israeli license plates.

The army apologized for the incident and said the unit that opened fire had not been informed that the journalists had permission to be in the area.

An Army spokesman told CPJ that the soldier responsible for firing the shot will not be punished, but his commanding officer will receive a suspended 21-day jail sentence. In addition, the IDF ordered that a second soldier will be confined to base for 35 days for failing to alert the unit that the journalists had permission to be in the area.

"heros" do tend to exaggerate!

perhaps that's what makes them heros!!

An Army spokesman told CPJ that the soldier responsible for firing the shot will not be punished, but his commanding officer will receive a suspended 21-day jail sentence. In addition, the IDF ordered that a second soldier will be confined to base for 35 days for failing to alert the unit that the journalists had permission to be in the area.

but his commanding officer was given a suspended 21 day jail sentence presumably implemented when his men next shoot at a taxi full of journalists. A second soldier will be confined to base for 35 days doing sweet FA while his mates have to carry on doing the hard stuff.

goodbye cruel world im off to join the IDF

stehpenb, that was ten years ago, and there has been no similar incident, so the sentences do seem to have been adequate

it is bizarre that, faced with gideon levy's misreporting of the incident, you not only change the subject to the idf's disciplinary methods (at least equal to those of the british army), but actually copy gideon levy's technique by accusing the idf of not taking the incident seriously when the facts clearly show the opposite

Gideon Levy's reports often have little or no connection to the tuuth

http://www.camera.org/index.aspx_context=6&x_article=146

He abuses his position as a “journalist” to demonise Israel. He is a self serving propagandist who makes money at the expense of his own people.

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=55&x_article=1016

http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/07/28/gideon-levy-twisted-in-knots-...

http://israelseen.com/2010/09/11/gideon-levy-and-uncomfortable-truths/

Just his disgusting misreporting of the recent rape case should prove to all (except the most hardline haters like levenson) that he is driven by a hate agenda and that his journalism is therefore fatally flawed.

This comment by Jonathan Hoffman has been moderated

why has Israel banned Levy from going to Gaza ?

western style democracy koff

stephenb, your contributions go something like this. You make an accusation. This is carefully analysed and rebutted by others, who point out material of which you are unaware. You ignore the rebuttal and the new information, and leap to another unrelated accusation. as so it goes, round and round, without you having to address anything of substance at all.

Are you happy with Haaretz's editor saying Israel needs to be raped? And as for Levy not going to Gaza, it isn't ecxactly unusual for citizens of democracies to be prevented from going to enemy entities, is it? In case you hadn't noticed, there is a war going on. How many British people travelled freely to Germany during the war - or for that matter, Iraq when hostilities broke out in 2003? US citizens were, for years until very recently, banned from going to Libya - and there was no overt war between them at all.

Your absurd attempt to paint Israel as being undemocratic (whilst of course not a peep from you about every Arab dictatorship and police state which surrounds Israel, including the PA and Hamas) is sheer ideology driven hypocrisy. What's more, you know it.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Levy#Reception …

Ben Dror Yemini, the editor of the opinion page of Maariv, calls Levy one of the "propagandists for the Hamas"[1]. Itamar Marcus, the director of Palestinian Media Watch, writes in the website of Arutz Sheva, a publication supporting the Israeli settlers in the West Bank, "[One of] the current Israeli heroes [of the Hamas], from whom the Palestinians garner support for their ways, [is] Gideon Levy ..."[18]

Arutz Sheva also reported extensively on an article of Levy's that was translated into Arabic on a Hamas website, to justify two rampages by Palestinians driving bulldozers in Jerusalem in 2008.[19]

Gideon Ezra, a member of Parliament from the Kadima party, and former deputy Minister of Internal Security in Israel, even suggested in 2006 that the General Security Services should monitor Levy as a borderline security risk.[20]

stephenb, allowing a propagandist for a terrorist organisation to go and meet them is not something most democracies would do!

levy has been banned from gaza since november 2006

levy has been banned from gaza since november 2006

yes i did know that. Why ?

stephenb, i thought i just answered that!

Jonathan, why do you or amber think people will buy biased sites like justjournalism and camera? Also, true haaretz's circulation is low, but so is the times' compared to the sun. It's quality not quantity wot counts.

In the case of Ha-Ha Aretz (as it's widely known in Israel)the quality is low.

No yvetta, it's only known as that by Jonathan, his name- calling acolytes in north Wales and those who don't know Hebrew ( hint: ha ha doesn't work in Hebrew).

if you think that happy i can only assume that thinking just isent your strong point run it past me again

I can assure you it is known as that, Sam - in and outside Israel.

Here it is from a comment (by an Israeli) on Snowblog -

Haaretz is “widely regarded”? By whom? There are many in Israel who refer to it as the Ha-Ha-Haaretz. Menachem Begin once famously remarked that the last time one of its leaders supported the Government was when the British Mandate was still extant.

Sorry Yvetta, but it really doesn't work in Hebrew. And in a democracy, newspapers don't have to agree with governments and begin is dead.

stephenb, the governing body of Gaza, Hamas, regards itself as being at war with Israel. Why would you expect citizens of a country to travel freely to an enemy entity during time of war (in this case run by an antisemitic terror organization)?

no israeli journalist is allowed to go to gaza ?

Telegramsam

hits the nail on the head, Jonathan, Amber and others hate Levy and personally attack him, simply for his criticisms of Israel, rather than go to Gaza (like Levy has), they assume they have superior knowledge of the realities based on their own research.

Now good research is not Jose citing a wikipedia link, without a reference that claims Haaretz has low reader ship numbers. Nor is it citing fanatical blogs from right-wing Israeli extremists, how do you guy manage to believe these are credible as evidence, yet dismiss a man like Gideon Levy who has spent significant time in Gaza and the West Bank?

Levy was actually in the IDF, and raised as a pro-Israeli accepting all the traditional narratives, until later when he worked as a journalist and entered the West Bank and saw how Israel was treating the Palestinians and seizing their land.

Telegramsam

hits the nail on the head, Jonathan, Amber and others hate Levy and personally attack him, simply for his criticisms of Israel, rather than go to Gaza (like Levy has), they assume they have superior knowledge of the realities based on their own research.

Now good research is not Jose citing a wikipedia link, without a reference that claims Haaretz has low reader ship numbers. Nor is it citing fanatical blogs from right-wing Israeli extremists, how do you guy manage to believe these are credible as evidence, yet dismiss a man like Gideon Levy who has spent significant time in Gaza and the West Bank?

Levy was actually in the IDF, and raised as a pro-Israeli accepting all the traditional narratives, until later when he worked as a journalist and entered the West Bank and saw how Israel was treating the Palestinians and seizing their land.

Telegramsam

hits the nail on the head, Jonathan, Amber and others hate Levy and personally attack him, simply for his criticisms of Israel, rather than go to Gaza (like Levy has), they assume they have superior knowledge of the realities based on their own research.

Now good research is not Jose citing a wikipedia link, without a reference that claims Haaretz has low reader ship numbers. Nor is it citing fanatical blogs from right-wing Israeli extremists, how do you guy manage to believe these are credible as evidence, yet dismiss a man like Gideon Levy who has spent significant time in Gaza and the West Bank?

Levy was actually in the IDF, and raised as a pro-Israeli accepting all the traditional narratives, until later when he worked as a journalist and entered the West Bank and saw how Israel was treating the Palestinians and seizing their land.

scuse me i asked a question.....hands on hips stamping feet having a wobbler.....does Israel not allow any Israeli journalist to go to Gaza ?

stephenb

No they don't allow Israeli journalists into Gaza, they have attempted to justify this claiming its due to 'safety concerns', yet this doesn't stop them allowing international journalists into Gaza.

Clearly, its an attempt to prevent reporting within Israel, on what is actually taking place in Gaza. You may remember Israel also totally closed Gaza during the Israel incursion in Dec 2008- January 2009, in which 1,300 Palestinian civilians were killed.

Its the only democracy in the middle east, don't you know

ok well as my mum says when i say why.....every question answered only leads to another question so its not really worth the trouble answering but shes nuts so ill ask anyway.......how do the good folks in Israel have the remotest clue about what is going on in Gaza ?

an yes i did know israel was the only democracy in the middle east.dont get cute with me mister

According to Levy, they rely upon overseas journalists, and international activists, and Palestinian groups and organisations working in Gaza.

It was a joke, about the democracy, Israel treats its Palestinian citizens with contempt and discrimination and Lieberman is even trying to transfer/expel them out of Israel into a future Palestinian state.

Plus i am not sure how Israel can be a Jewish democratic state, anymore then an Islamic democratic state can exist, as they are based on the principle of privledging one religious group, and excluding others

Gideon Levy became well known for his weekly 'twilight zone' articles in the Israeli paper Haaretz. Levy himself has developed into an ardent critic of Israeli policies and their inhumane treatment of the Palestinians. Yet Levy was born the son of two Holocaust survivors and served in the Israeli Defence Forces in the 1970's. It was only in the 1980's when Levy began working as a journalist for Haaretz in the West Bank that he was exposed to the Palestinian occupation and its harsh realities.

ibrows im irish i dont understand jokes so just tell it how it is an i wont get confused

ibrows, who made the antisemitic comparison between Deir Yassin and the Holocaust, now uses Levy's Holocaust "credenials" to make him immune from criticism. Guess hwta ibrows - there are many who suffered in the Holocaust directly, and are not apologists for their Jewishness, nor for Israel defending itself. You speak in soundbites "injustice", "apartheid", etc without any substance to your arguments. You are a hater, and have nothing but venom for Israel - in all circumstances, whilst you never utter a word of criticism of the racist and genocidal enemies of Israel.

Hypocrite.

amber, if you were irish, you'd understand!

you tell her happy

amber

I am merely pointing out that Levy grew up fully aware of the Jewish history of suffering and persecution, this being relevant, in so far its fair to say he did not grow up 'hating Israel', as some of his critics would like us to believe. Likewise, he served in the IDF. yet, his views later changed and he became critical of Israel after being exposed as a reporter to the suffering of the Palestinians in the occupied Territories.

ibrows, why is this interesting, and what does it prove? There is the case of a Jewish settler who became a member of Hamas and then advocated killing Jews. What does this prove? Only that people can change their original views. It says nothing about the validity of those views. So what's your point - presuming you have one besides hating the Jewish state come what may?