As Israel struggles to win international support, its star English-language spokesman is suspended
Many of Levy’s fans on social media were clamoring for his reinstatement
Eylon Levy, Israeli government spokesperson, speaks to members of the media on November 28, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo by Getty Images
(JTA) — Eylon Levy, the English-language spokesman for Israel widely praised for defending the beleaguered country in English-language media, has been suspended and is unlikely to return to his role, Israeli media is reporting.
According to the Israeli media reports, Levy was suspended over his response on X, formerly Twitter, to Britain’s top diplomat, who had called for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, where Israel is waging war against Hamas. Levy’s response, which has since been deleted, rejected the idea that Israel was preventing aid from entering and challenged the official, David Cameron, to send 100 trucks of aid to test Israel’s ability to deliver it. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the British government, an ally of Israel, sought to clarify whether Levy’s comments represented the official position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It was a rare misstep for Levy, a 33-year-old Brit who has gained a wide audience for his aggressive yet erudite defense of Israel on TV news and social media since being appointed shortly after the war’s onset on Oct. 7. “He’s a very smart guy and well spoken and it was something that was incredibly lacking in the beginning of the war,” Israeli policy analyst and pro-Israel influencer Eli Kowaz told JTA in January.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed the suspension to the Jerusalem Post. Levy did not respond to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment on Tuesday.
The shakeup comes as Israel faces steep criticism internationally over its prosecution of the war, including about its delivery of aid to Palestinians. Netanyahu reportedly complained in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday that a challenge facing Israel’s public diplomacy, known in Hebrew as hasbara, is that there are too many people “who can’t put two words together” in English arguing for his government’s policies.
Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, was reported in January to be seeking Levy’s ouster because the spokesman had been critical of her husband last year before the war, when hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested his government’s proposed judicial reforms.
Levy’s bio on his social media channels still identities him as the “Israeli Government Spokesman in the October 7 War.” Throughout the last week, during his reported suspension, Levy maintained a steady stream of tweets of the sort that gained him more than 150,000 followers since the outbreak of the war. (His follower count has grown even more on Instagram.) On Wednesday, he began his day with a tweet that followed his routine — “Day 166 🎗❤️,” he wrote, referring to the number of days since the Oct. 7 attack — but did not immediately follow it with the stream of content that he typically posts throughout the day.
Levy’s fans in the pro-Israel sphere of social media have been protesting his ouster. “We support you @eylonalevy, thank you for all of your hard work,” posted A Jewish Resistance, an account with more than 50,000 Instagram followers, in one representative instance.
A petition calling for Levy’s reinstatement was quickly gaining momentum on Wednesday, with more than 1,800 people signing on in a matter of hours.
“At a time when public opinion is increasingly influenced by misinformation and Hamas propaganda, Eylon Levy’s role in disseminating factual, clear, and concise information is indispensable,” said the petition, by a social account called We Are Tov! “His suspension not only hinders the effective communication of Israel’s policies and actions but also limits the global understanding of the challenges and complexities faced by all parties involved in this conflict.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
