Israel journalist Gideon Levy on TV propaganda, losing friends, and ‘traitor’ tag

“October 7 was horrible. Nothing of what happened after October 7 justifies what Israel has done ever since then,” says Israeli journalist and Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, in an exclusive conversation with Sreenivasan Jain.

“Israel is speaking only in one voice and is not ready to hear any other voice... Open the TV and you will realise that you don’t need any pressure to make Israeli TV look like Russian propaganda TV,” says Gideon Levy, who is among the most articulate critics of Israel’s actions in Palestinian territories.

The journalist says that he lost friends “because people said, after October 7, ‘don’t tell us about Palestinian sacrifice or that Palestinians suffer’”. He says Hamas would’ve been a different organisation today had Israel treated Palestinians differently.

Speaking about the role journalists can play, he says, “If not now, when?...When we are shooting, that’s the time to raise your voice…How can you keep silent?”

On the resistance he faces locally, the journalist recalls a woman who shouts “traitor” every time he sees him.

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