Gideon Levy

Just as Israel did — and still does — with Palestinians wanting to return to their homeland, thousands of desperate asylum seekers from Africa are being criminalized under the “Prevention of Infiltration law.”

The newly-passed boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by Israel’s far right. The legislation’s goal is to intimidate those Israeli citizens, Jews and Palestinians, who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob.

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. In his new book Gaza, a collection of articles which has just been published in French, Levy utters phrases that, by his own admission, are considered “insane” by most of his compatriots. The Electronic Intifada contributor David Cronin spoke with Gideon Levy about his background and journalism.