Israeli spox Eylon Levy, suspended by Netanyahu's office, steps down
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In a Hebrew tweet, he announced that he and his public diplomacy team are taking "an independent path."
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Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy speaking during an event (X photo, @EylonALevy)
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy who was suspended 3 weeks ago has officially stepped down from his position.
Levy has altered his bio on X to “former Israeli Government Spokesman” and tweeted: “You don’t need to be a spokesperson to speak up for Israel.”
In a Hebrew tweet, he announced that he and his public diplomacy team are taking "an independent path."
לאחר למעלה מ-400 ראיונות תקשורת, תדרוכים, ומסיבות עיתונאים כדובר רשמי מטעם ממשלת ישראל מאז ה-7 באוקטובר, הגיעה העת לצאת לדרך עצמאית בהסברה עם הצוות שסייע לי מפרוץ המלחמה. אין לנו את הפריווילגיה להזניח את זירת הקרב.
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) March 31, 2024
אמשיך להילחם על שמנו הטוב, בין אם כדובר רשמי ובין אם לאו.🇮🇱
Interviewed by The Times of Israel, Levy, expressed that he found it "difficult to believe" that his suspension was "really about the tweet to David Cameron because I tweeted government policy and facts," adding that he hoped in the next war, the Israeli occupation would learn how to "improve our response to crisis communications.”
Levy was suspended earlier in the month after criticizing British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, causing backlash in the United Kingdom. He was officially dismissed on Wednesday.
When asked if Benjamin Netanyahu's wife was behind his firing due to being one of thousands who protested the judicial overhaul, he stated that he never met her or her husband.
Levy told the Israeli publication that “the information architecture is completely stacked against us," citing how "Hamas and its propagandists at the United Nations managed to convince so many people that Israel is guilty of genocide."
He boldly stated that he believed he was doing a "decent job making the case for Israel" but expressed that he would continue to give interviews and "influencing".
"If it’s not going to be as an official government spokesman, it’ll be as a former government spokesman.”
Communication experts had previously underlined that the Israeli occupation was losing terribly when it came to its publicity on an international level, namely its Hasbara strategy due to a "broken public relations playbook," according to Jewish Insider.
Experts have said there were numerous issues in the bureaucratic and systemic structures within the Israeli occupation, in addition to bad policies pursued by "Tel Aviv", causing the failure of diplomacy to become a chief concern for the Israeli occupation.
'Israel' losing on numerous fronts
In a February report by The New York Times, American Columnist Thomas Friedman highlighted that "Israel" is losing on three fronts.
He suggests that the occupation entity is losing the global narrative that it is engaged in a just war, adding that "it has no plan to ever get out of Gaza, so it will eventually sink into the sands there with a permanent occupation that will surely complicate relations with all its Arab allies and friends across the globe."
Friedman explains that "Israel" is also losing regionally to Iran and the Lebanese Resistance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, who are pressuring the northern, southern, and eastern borders of occupied Palestine.
According to him, the only solution for "Israel" is a "two-state solution", which he believes would strengthen the occupation's relationship with its Arab allies.
'US and Israeli global standing could decline'
In a message to US President Joe Biden and the Israeli people, Friedman stressed, "I am seeing the increasingly rapid erosion of Israel’s standing among friendly nations — a level of acceptance and legitimacy that was painstakingly built up over decades," warning that "if Biden is not careful, America’s global standing will plummet right along with Israel’s."
He added, "I do not think that the Israelis or the Biden administration fully appreciate the anger that is rising around the world, fueled by social media and television footage, over the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians, especially children, by US-supplied weapons."
Freidman highlights that every day, there are new calls to ban "Israel" from international academic, artistic, and athletic competitions or events. That said, many Israeli allies are now praying for a ceasefire to avoid being called out by their people and voters for their support for "Israel" amid the ongoing aggression on Gaza, which has claimed the lives of thousands.
