My new interview with Gideon Levy chilled and moved me
He's a titan of moral clarity, and had some devastating truths - about Israel's war crimes, and The Zone Of Interest
I’ve just done an interview with the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy. I’ve interviewed him several times now - but this left the deepest impact.
In Israel itself, the space for Jewish Israeli dissidents to speak out against the current obscenity - he calls it “barbarism” and “unforgivable” - is shrinking. But he does seem to think there’s some hope - in that some Israelis are beginning to understand the gravity of the crime.
I wanted to talk about something that’s been on my mind. Gaza is as far from where Gideon was speaking as, say, Reading, or Chelmsford, or Southend-on-Sea is from me. It’s the size of east London, and is an apocalyptic wasteland; and yet just over the barrier, people are living rich, Western lives - going to sushi restaurants, dancing in clubs, getting drunk, going to festivals, doing their jobs.
Anyway, he cited The Zone Of Interest. Here’s that clip from the interview.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
““Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I were alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is: you’re doing it. Right now.”
— Aaron Bushnell’s last Facebook post
This gut-punch of a quote brings to mind The Zone of Interest, which Gideon Levy has poignantly referenced. It’s a chilling reminder of how seamlessly life carries on while atrocities rage in the background. Out here in rural western New York, the birds still chirp, the groceries still get bagged, and the holiday lights still twinkle—meanwhile, our tax dollars bankroll mass murder. But let’s not sugarcoat it: this isn’t ignorance. Americans—especially those in power—know exactly what’s happening. Every missile, every bomb, every shredded body meticulously advances their “interests.” It’s a masterclass in cold-blooded prioritization, because nothing screams “freedom” like underwriting apartheid and genocide.
Levy nailed it. In the United States, we’ve refined the Orwellian art of rebranding war crimes into “defense” and mass murder into “freedom.” Even Big Brother would be green with envy. Our leaders—those self-anointed global champions of human rights (just ask Iraq or Afghanistan how that’s going)—preach moral superiority while signing billion-dollar checks to ensure Gaza remains the world’s most densely populated tomb. Domestic crises? Who has time for Flint’s poisoned water when there are massacres to fund? American exceptionalism, indeed: hypocrisy on steroids, sponsored by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
And let’s not forget the genocidal mainstream media, the corporate cheerleaders for this grotesque theater of death. They frame Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza as “self-defense,” while dutifully downplaying the charred bodies of children. Hamas fires rockets? It’s “terrorism.” Israel flattens hospitals and schools? It’s “precision targeting.” If hypocrisy were an Olympic event, CNN, Fox, and the rest of the stenographers-for-power would be perpetual gold medalists. They’re not just complicit; they’re co-conspirators, diligently applying a fresh coat of propaganda to every war crime they sanitize.
Levy is right: Gaza isn’t just a humanitarian catastrophe—it’s a deliberate moral implosion. The U.S. doesn’t merely tolerate it; it funds, enables, and shields it. And let’s not let Joe “Empathy” Biden off the hook. The self-styled defender of decency has his administration’s fingerprints all over this slaughter. Every obliterated home, every shattered family, every shredded body is a testament to his administration’s “values.” In a just world, Biden, Netanyahu, and their cronies would face trial at The Hague, where they’d finally get their matching jumpsuits—pinstriped orange.
Then there’s the Western media, the indispensable PR machine of genocide. Their shameless lies and relentless dehumanization have made this horror show possible. They’re already losing control of the narrative, but we can’t stop until they’re fully exposed as the enablers of mass murder they are. It’s not journalism; it’s state-sponsored propaganda masquerading as truth. Time to rip away their facade and drag their complicity into the blinding light of accountability.
For those who want to dig deeper into Palestine’s erased history, there’s a document worth reading: https://bahai-library.com/ekbal_colonialism_nationalism_palestine&tagsall=yes. Of particular interest is page 32, section 10, which documents plans for the destruction of the Aqsa Mosque — the author claims it is possibly the first contemporaneous record of such intentions.
There’s also a book that starts with an account of the largest funeral Palestine had known until then, attended by the followers of all faiths: https://a.co/d/5Yk7r51. Even the free portion is packed with invaluable information about the region during the late Ottoman and early British Mandate years.
In times like these, it’s not just important to speak out—it’s a moral imperative to ensure the lies are unraveled and the truth is relentlessly uncovered.
Thank you Owen for giving platform to Gideon. He is a beacon of truth demonstrating the knowledge of what Israel is doing in Gaza and elsewhere is available. Israelis and Americans supporting them are to be held morally responsible someday. I hope you are recovering.