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British-born Israeli government spokesman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eylon Aslan-Levy, also known as Eylon Levy,[1] is a British-Israeli figure who served as official Israeli government spokesman, from the start of 2023 Israel–Hamas war to March 2024, when he was suspended as spokesman after complaints from the UK government following his public criticism of their stance towards Israel and the war against Hamas.[2][3] He continues his public advocacy work, with a podcast partly-sponsored by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.[4] He also visits Jewish diaspora communities around the world with organizations such as the Jewish National Fund and StandWithUs.[5]
Eylon Levy | |
|---|---|
| אילון לוי | |
| |
| Born | Eylon Aslan-Levy 1991 (age 32–33) London, United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Israeli government spokesperson |
Levy was born in London, United Kingdom. He attended University College School in London and University of Oxford, where he received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 2013. He moved to Israel in 2014 at the age of 23 to join the Israeli military during the 2014 Gaza War. In 2016, Levy began work as the chief news anchor at IBA News, and then later presented news at i24NEWS.
Levy was born in London, United Kingdom to Israeli emigrant parents who worked in real estate, and is of Iraqi-Jewish ancestry. He began participating in debate clubs at age 14.[6] Levy attended University College School in London,[7] before going onto Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, where he received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 2013.[8][9] While studying at Oxford, he participated in debate championships around the world.[6] In 2013, he notably participated in a debate with George Galloway in which Galloway walked out after learning that Levy was an Israeli citizen.[10][11][12] In his final year at Oxford, he also co-wrote A Theory of Justice: The Musical, a satirical musical comedy adapting John Rawls's A Theory of Justice; premiering in 2013, it was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe later that year and at a London West End production in 2018, and was nominated for numerous awards.[13]
He received his master's degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, where he wrote his thesis on the issue of Jewish refugees from the Arab world in Israeli foreign policy.[14] While at Cambridge, Levy ran unsuccessfully to become President of the Cambridge Union Society.[15][16][17] He moved to Israel in 2014 at the age of 23 to enlist in the Israeli military during the 2014 Gaza War, and served in the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit.[6][18]
In 2014, Levy published a column for The Guardian newspaper, "Obsessive Gaza coverage is fanning antisemitism".[19] Levy criticised disproportionate media coverage of Israel, claiming that it fuels antisemitism in Europe. Levy also condemned accusations of genocide against Israel and those that invoke the Holocaust to criticize the country.[19] Between 2014 to 2019, he was also a frequent contributor to Tablet, a Jewish online magazine published in the United States.[20] He also wrote frequently for The Tower Magazine from 2016 to 2017.[21] He has also been published by The Daily Telegraph in England.[22]Since 2013, he has been contributing blogs to The Times of Israel.[23]
In 2016, Levy worked as the chief news anchor at IBA News, the English-language broadcast on Israeli public television.[24] He later worked at the international news network i24NEWS, as a news anchor, commentator, and investigative journalist..[24] In 2021, Israeli President Isaac Herzog appointed him as his international media advisor at the Office of the President of Israel, in which capacity he served for the first two years of the Herzog presidency.[25] After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, he became an official Israeli government spokesman and one of Israel's most internationally recognized faces in the war.[25] Mark Regev had encountered Levy in the public diplomacy directorate, recognizing his potential and setting him work tasks. As training, he was instructed to observe Regev's live interviews and then give his own interviews.[25]
During the early stages of the conflict, Eylon Levy encountered a diplomatic setback characterized by a press conference response to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Levy remarked with what Levy described as "dark British humour" that Nasrallah's speech was so boring that Israel probably had assassinated Nasrallah's speechwriter. Levy also noted that Nasrallah was not onstage during the address, such that the Hezbollah leader must have been "hiding in a bunker like a coward" as he was defending what Levy termed "the pedophile rapists of Hamas".
The Public Diplomacy Directorate of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel deemed the comments a diplomatic failure. The Directorate contemplated removing Levy as international media spokesperson, but in the end granted him a second opportunity with guidance from higher authorities who emphasized the inappropriate nature of his response as a government spokesperson. Levy acknowledged the lapse, recognizing that, in his role, humour was not the primary objective but rather conveying information seriously and professionally.[6]
On 23 November 2023, he was interviewed on Sky News by Kay Burley who said: “I was speaking to a hostage negotiator this morning, and he made the comparison between the 50 hostages that Hamas has promised to release as opposed to the 150 prisoners that are Palestinians that Israel has said it will release,”. Burley continued: “He made the comparison between the numbers and the fact that does Israel not think that Palestinian lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?”[26]
Levy received widespread support from the Jewish community for his response: “That is an astonishing accusation. If we could release one prisoner for every one hostage, we would obviously do that. We are operating in horrific circumstances. We’re not choosing to release these prisoners who have blood on their hands. We are talking about people who have been convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks. Notice the question of proportionality doesn’t interest Palestinian supporters when they’re able to get more of their prisoners out, but really it is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses – more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back – somehow suggests that we don’t care about Palestinian lives? Really? That’s a disgusting accusation.”[26] Burley's remarks led to many complaints to Ofcom, Britain's government-approved regulatory and competition authority for broadcasting. It was the fifth most-complained about TV broadcast of 2023.[27]
The Times of Israel praised Levy for his interview performance, writing that Levy is
"energized, assumes a Sphinx-like expression and delivers an impressive barrage of well-reasoned, well-crafted arguments. There’s no hesitation. He doesn’t play the victim, doesn’t argue, doesn’t philosophize. Levy wears a face of restrained anger when talking about children, a penetrating look when discussing soldiers, and a neutral expression when mentioning the prime minister – the same prime minister against whom Levy demonstrated with shirts that read “Democracy or Rebellion” just over two months ago. Nonetheless, no one can detect even a hint of criticism [of Netanyahu] in him."[6]
In November 2023, host Lewis Goodall of radio show LBC questioned Levy about his tweet[28] labelling protestors at pro-Palestinian protests in London, where pro-Hamas signs have been present,[29] as "rape apologists". Levy made the comments in the context of Sexual and gender-based violence in the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel. Levy replied that he challenged anyone offended by the term to hold up a sign at a pro-Palestine march with the sentence "I condemn Hamas for raping Israeli women and girls".[6] The independent UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) subsequently published a legal and in-depth investigative report in June 2024 which concluded from “documented evidence” that there was a pattern indicative of sexual violence by Palestinian forces during the attack, that these incidents were not isolated, and that Hamas and other militant groups were responsible for gender-based violence "by willful killings, abductions, and physical, mental and sexual abuse."[30]
In January 2024, as government spokesperson, Levy condemned South Africa's genocide claims against Israel, stating that his country would fight the case: "to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel".[31]
On January 22, 2024, the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post reported that Sara Netanyahu, wife of the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tried to oust Levy from his spokesperson role for participating in the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests before the Israeli war on Gaza. Levy's posts on X (Twitter) had reportedly circulated among persons in the prime minister's inner circle and upset some of them. Sara Netanyahu's endeavor to dismiss Levy aroused significant public outcry over what was seen as her overreach. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel promptly petitioned the government's legal advisor, urging the issuance of guidelines delineating the specific domain within which she is authorized to intervene in and unjustly or illegally influence governmental affairs.[32][33] Later that day it was reported that Sara Netanyahu had reprimanded Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely for praising Levy whom Hotovely called a "wonderful public diplomacy star", with Sara Netanyahu denying having done so. At the same time it was reported that Levy would be allowed to stay on as an international spokesman, but that his media appearances would be less frequent.[34]
According to a Channel 12 report on January 21, 2024, officials opted to reduce Levy's public appearances promptly, with a complete removal from the position anticipated within the following few weeks, while the official rationale behind this decision would be stated to be the government's expressed aim to project a more diverse image to the international media.[33]
In March 2024, he engaged in an online row with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron Levy said in response to a tweet from Cameron urging Israel "to allow more [aid] trucks into Gaza":[35][36]
"I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity. Test us. Send another 100 trucks a day to Kerem Shalom and we'll get them in."
Cameron commented on Levy's claims that there were “no limits” on the entry of aid into Gaza, and that the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza was closed on Saturdays because of the UN, in a letter addressed to MP Alicia Kearns:[35]
In response to the Israeli spokesman claims you quote in your letter, I can confirm that the UN has not requested that the Kerem Shalom crossing is closed on Saturdays. It is our understanding that Israel closes it due to the Sabbath. [...] It is of enormous frustration that UK aid for Gaza has been routinely held up waiting for Israeli permission. For instance, I am aware of some UK funded aid being stuck at the border for just under three weeks waiting for approval. The main blockers remain arbitrary denials by the Government of Israel and lengthy clearance procedures, including multiple screenings and narrow opening windows in daylight hours.[35]
Levy was suspended after the UK Foreign Office expressed "surprise" to Israel's foreign ministry and sought clarification on whether his tweets represented the Israeli government's official position. A report in the Financial Times paraphrased the UK's query as: "Is this the way allies speak to each other?"[36]
By his estimate, between October 7 2023 and March 2024, Levy had participated in 270 interviews across the mediums of television, radio and podcast. He has also led fifty press conferences and gave seventy briefings to delegations.[4]
Since he was suspended as a spokesperson following complaints from the British government, he has since founded the State of the Nation podcast in which he interviews guests about Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish history. The podcast is partly funded by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism and the initiative is supported by the Minister, Amichai Chikli.[4] He has also founded the New Israeli Discourse public advocacy project and Israeli Citizen Spokespersons Project, which aim to support independent non-governmental Israeli advocacy and activism in support of Israel.[37][38] The project raised more than $300,000 in less than a week.[39]
In April 2024, he appeared on the cover of the weekly newspaper, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles with the cover headline "Mr Hasbara".[26][25]
In September 2024, he embarked on a public diplomacy speaking tour in Australia for the Jewish National Fund Australia. He engaged with over 5, 000 members of Australian Jewry in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.[5] Months prior to his tour, he was interviewed by Australia's SBS Hebrew.[40] In October and November 2024, he addressed Jewish communities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary with StandWithUs.[41][42][43]
On 31 October 2024, he gave a lecture at the University of Calgary, sponsored by StandWithUs. 200 pro-Palestinian protestors attempted to disrupt the lecture, chanting "From the river to the sea" and accusing Levy of genocide.[42] The lecture was cut short by campus security over safety concerns, and students evacuated through a hidden back entrance. Levy was harassed by protestors on the way to his car. Levy condemned the "hateful extremism" of the protestors, but added that he was "pleasantly surprised" by the number of non-Jewish students that attended his lecture, describing them as “genuinely curious and empathetic.”[44] On 5 November, Levy spoke at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal. 40 masked pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside the synagogue.[45][46] The protestors were condemned in a joint declaration by the Federation CJA and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs: “radicals came to desecrate the tranquility of one of (our) community’s residential neighborhoods and houses of worship by calling for ‘intifada’ in front of the Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in Montreal. (That) they do so in violation of the injunction protecting our community’s premises from this kind of antisemitic demonstration, and all that in front of the SPVM, is revolting."[46]
As a Hebrew-to-English literature translator, Levy has translated several influential works of Hebrew non-fiction. In 2022, he was named the inaugural translation finalist of the Sami Rohr Prize in recognition of his translation of Danny Adeno Abebe's memoir From Africa to Zion.[47] Among his previously published works:
Levy was the co-creator of the musical comedy A Theory of Justice: The Musical, which premiered in Oxford in 2013 and was revived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for four awards.[58]
On 23 November 2023 TV, Sky News anchor Kay Burley interviewed Levy during which she asked him whether Israel's plan to release 150 Palestinian fighters in exchange for Hamas freeing only 50 Israeli hostages, one Israeli for every three Palestinians, implied that Israel perceived Palestinian lives as inferior. Levy raised his eyebrows dramatically in apparent disbelief at the question and stayed silent for a moment, then replied that Burley's accusation was "astonishing", continuing "If we could release one prisoner for every one hostage, we would obviously do that". Clips of Levy raising his eyebrows went viral on social media. The next day on X (Twitter) Levy expressed further frustration, and then joked "my eyebrows are tired".[59]
News articles about Levy referenced the eyebrow incident as well – in some cases, in the headline itself. Examples include:
Since the eyebrow incident, Levy has been portrayed in other video clips, memes, sketches and other expressions of popular culture.[3] These include a humorous parody of the typical Israeli accent on an American podcast and a video where he facetiously apologizes to those he accused of supporting Hamas, asserting that they were, in reality, merely "indifferent" to the organization's atrocities.[6][64]
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