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Amiram Levin (Hebrew: עמירם לוין; born 7 July 1946) is a retired Aluf (Major General) of the Israel Defense Forces.
Amiram Levin | |
|---|---|
 Amiram Levin in 2020 | |
| Native name | עמירם לוין |
| Born | July 7, 1946 Lehavot HaBashan, Mandatory Palestine |
| Allegiance |  Israel |
| Years of service | 1965–1998 |
| Rank | Aluf (major general) |
| Battles / wars | |
Amiram Levin served in Sayeret Matkal and rose to become its commander. He was commander of the IDF Northern Command. He was severely wounded in the Yom Kippur War.[1] Levin served as deputy chief of the Mossad.[2]
Levin was director and chairman of the National Roads Company of Israel until 2006.[3]
Levin's views on the Palestinian conflict have varied through the years.
According to an Al Jazeera documentary, in 2013, Levin stated at an arms industry conference that Israel’s goal in the occupied territories was to create more 'room to manoeuvre' by punishing the Palestinians, adding that, "You have to understand, most Palestinians were born to die – we just have to help them."[4][5][6]
A leading figure on the Israeli left and member of the Israeli Labor Party, Levin is considered a liberal icon.[7][better source needed] After losing out to Avi Gabbay in the Labor party's elections in June 2017, he expressed his support for the winner. He has supported Breaking the Silence, and thinks the army has grown soft because of the occupation. He also believes Palestinians deserve being occupied militarily because they refused to accept the borders set out for two states in the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan. He does not accept the borders existing before the 1967 war, thinks Israel was right to conquer the West Bank ('Judea and Samaria') and is on record as advocating the expansion of Israeli settlements. He has also opined that if Palestinians fail to abide by agreements, Israel should "tear them apart" in a future war and forcibly transfer them to "the other side of the Jordan River",[8][9] i.e. Jordan. Recently he has suggested a loosening of the Gaza blockade, and advocates allowing Palestinians in Gaza the use of an airport and a port, on condition that if rockets continue to be fired against Israel, entire neighbourhoods there should be flattened.[7][better source needed]
He also espouses the view that the militancy of Palestinian children and youths poses a greater threat to Israel than Hamas, and hasbara (public diplomacy including propaganda) warfare has a key strategic value to counter what he considers is the manipulation of images of Palestinian children resisting the occupation by throwing stones to influence world opinion.[10]
In 2023 however, Levin made headlines for speaking at a protest against proposed judicial reforms. At an interview a day later, he compared Israel to Nazi Germany and said "there is apartheid in Judea and Samaria, the IDF has started being complicit in war crimes, they stand on the sidelines and watch the hilltop youth terrorize the Palestinians and do nothing. The IDF has rotted from the core." He later added "there hasn't been democracy in Judea and Samaria in 57 years. These people (referring to the settlers) do not know what democracy is. They are now rotting the Israeli society from within. These parties (referring to Jewish Power, Religious Zionism, and Noam) now have a majority in Parliament and Netanyahu is responsible for giving them power. He gave the keys to criminals who never served in the IDF, people that in a functioning country would have been behind bars are now in charge of the police." The interviewer then quoted an infamous speech made by former military general Yair Golan who compared Israel to Nazi Germany and asked Levin if he agreed with his statements. "Of course", Levin replied, "walk around Hebron and you will see streets where Palestinians aren't allowed to be in. It hurts to say this but that's the reality. Better to accept it than to ignore that it is happening".[11]
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