Is Eylon Levy a cautionary tale of a spokesman exceeding his mandate, or a parable for the crippling failings of Israel’s PR machine?
Last November, Eylon Levy became famous for his eyebrows. The London-born media professional was serving as a volunteer wartime spokesman for Israel as the November hostage deal was unfolding, when a British interviewer asked a jaw-dropping question.
“I was speaking to a hostage negotiator this morning,” the Sky News anchor said, “who made the comparison between the 50 hostages that Hamas has promised to release and the 150 prisoners that Israel has promised to release. And he asked whether Israel doesn’t think that Palestinians lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?”
It was a shocking question — both fatuous and bigoted. As the presenter got to the end of her challenge, the split screen showed that it had shaken Levy’s calm demeanor. His eyebrows began to arch, his eyes opened wide as he stared back at the camera and there was a stunned pause, before he fired back.
“That is an astonishing accusation,” he said. “If we could release one prisoner for every one hostage, we would obviously do that. These are people with blood on their hands. It’s outrageous to suggest that the fact that we’re willing to release many prisoners to get our children back means that we don’t care about Palestinian lives. Really, it’s a disgusting accusation.”
Create a free account to keep reading.
