Levy’s unignorable message
IT REALLY makes very little difference whether Eylon Levy is an official government spokesman, or simply a popular spokesman for Israel.
His message is essentially the same with the difference that in an unofficial capacity he has greater freedom to make remarks that he might not make in an official capacity.
Last weekend, Levy was in New York appearing in Open to Debate, a weekly live program moderated by John Donvan, who explained that the purpose of the program is to prove that opposing factions can engage in a civil debate.
It is natural for people to take sides, said Donvan, but what is important is for them to listen to each other. He congratulated Levy and award-winning journalist Mehdi Hasan who have fiercely opposing viewpoints on the war in Gaza for agreeing to meet and debate on the same platform.
Both are British-born Oxford graduates, erudite orators, and quick thinkers.
They even shook hands with each other at the start of the debate, and while they kept to the rules for the most part, there were occasional lapses by each in which they insulted each other, but in a much more high-brow manner than that employed by US presidential candidate Donald Trump when he insults his Democratic Party rival Vice President Kamala Harris.
The subject of the debate which in recent days has gone viral, was “Were Israel’s Actions in the Gaza War Justified?” Although both made good points neither succeeded in changing the minds of members of the audience, who were made up of supporters from both sides, and each loudly cheered their man when he said something of particular significance.
What was interesting was that while Hasan kept referring to Levy by his first name, Levy refused to get that familiar, and kept referring to his opponent as “Mr. Hasan.” Regardless of whether one agreed with either or neither of them, the debate provided a lot of food for thought, and should be watched by every MK, not only to learn how the other side thinks but also how to debate in an intelligent, interesting, and civil fashion.
