Heimsókn Gideons Levy til Íslands var merkileg fyrir margra hluta sakir. Opinn fundur með honum í Þjóðmenningarhúsinu/Safnahúsinu var áhrifamikill en auk þess fór boðskapur hans víða, þökk sé fjölmiðlum sem stóðu sig vel þegar upp var staðið. Bíti Bylgjunnar, Morgunblaðið og Samstöðin riðu á vaðið eins og stundum fyrri daginn en síðar komu Sjónvarpið og Stöð 2/vísir.is með fína umfjöllun. 
Gideon Levy hefur skrifað mikið um dagana en hann skrifar reglulega pistla í ísraelska blaðið Haaretz og er lesendahópur hans gríðarlega stór. Hér á landi eru allmargir áskrifendur að Haaretz og er það ekki síst vegna skrifa hans. Hér að neðan er slóð á pistil sem hann skrifaði undir lok Íslandsheimsóknar sinnar.
Gideon Levy hreyfði við viðkvæmu máli, nefnilega hvort tveggja ríkja lausnin, það er tvö ríki hlið við hlið Ísrael og Palestína, yfirleitt eigi framtíðina fyrir sér eða hvort niðurstaðan hljóti að verða eitt ríki Ísraelsmanna og Palestínumanna. Gideon Levy telur svo vera og að baráttan verði þá um að afnema apartheid stefnuna í því ríki.
Gideon Levy er aðdáunarverður maður. Hann er hugaður, syndir óttalaus gegn straumnum sem óhætt er að segja að sé stríður. Hann slær aldrei af eins og kom fram í erindi hans á opna fudinum og svo ekki síður í viðtölunum sem tekin voru.
Ísraelsríki hefur gert allt hvað það hefur getað til að spyrða saman í eitt gagnrýni á eigin stefnu og andúð á gyðingum. Sá sem gagnrýnir Ísraelsríki hljóti að vera á móti gyðingum. Þetta er svívirðileg afbökun og lygi sem margir hafa þurft að súpa seyðið af.
Í mínum huga hefur Gideon Levy gert meira en flestir ef þá nokkur til að slá á andúð á gyðingum sem ég held reyndar að gæti verið minni en áróðursmenn Ísraelsríkis vilja vera láta. Þetta hefur Gideon Levy gert með því að halda fram málstað mannréttinda óháð því hver í hlut á.

Úr fréttum Ríkissjónvarpsins:

https://www.ruv.is/sjonvarp/spila/frettir-kl-19-00/30762/a0guqo

https://www.ruv.is/frettir/erlent/2023-07-03-vid-getum-ekki-haft-lydraedi-adeins-fyrir-gydinga-386889

Viðtal á Samstöðinni:

https://samstodin.is/2023/07/segir-tveggja-rikja-lausnina-omogulega-i-israel-palestinu/

Fundurinn í þjóðmenningarhúsinu á youtube: https://samstodin.is/2023/06/til-rottaekrar-endurskodunar-israel-palestina/

https://samstodin.is/2023/06/hadegisfundur-a-morgun-med-israelska-bladamanninum-gideon-levy/

Stöð 2 , vísir.is
https://www.visir.is/g/20232434109d/refsa-thurfi-israels-monnum-til-ad-koma-a-fridi

Fyrri frásagnir af komu Gideons Levy til Íslands, þar á meðal slóð á viðtal í Morgunblaðinu, viðtal við okkur Hjálmtý Heiðdal, formann félagsins Ísland Palestína í Bíti Bylgjunnar:
https://www.ogmundur.is/is/greinar/hvet-folk-til-ad-saekja-ahugaverdan-hadegisfund-a-laugardag

https://www.ogmundur.is/is/greinar/afdrattarlaus-gideon-levy
https://www.ogmundur.is/is/greinar/samstodin-sjonvarpar-3

https://www.ogmundur.is/is/greinar/upplysandi-og-vekjandi-fundur 

Pistill Gideons Levy í lok Íslandsheimsóknar:
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-07-02/ty-article-opinion/.premium/for-a-peaceful-reality-think-israel-and-imagine-the-opposite/00000189-1315-dae1-afa9-1bbd768c0000?fbclid=IwAR2y3phma1IwHxbfnvC47cbZWqwG2gpa2EqOnurYsRC3gjDMwl1qJm1xs00

Opinion |

For a Peaceful Reality, Think Israel and Imagine the Opposite

A general view shows the city of Reykjavik in 2013.Credit: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

Gideon Levy

Reykjavík

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Jul 2, 2023

One hundred and forty-three earthquakes were registered here in Iceland at the end of the weekend. The strongest was in Lake Kleifarvatn, measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale. For a moment, there was a risk of another volcanic eruption. The information was given over the radio as part of the weather forecast.

This came in stark contrast to Israel, where the first rain of the season is reported in a more terrifying manner. Lava flows down a mountain in Iceland about once a decade. In 2010, an eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull ice cap created a cloud of volcanic ash that disrupted flights in northwestern Europe.

Icelanders aren’t jittery. No one is instilling unnecessary anxieties in them. No one is asking if Iceland will still be here in 50 years, like they do in Israel – even though Iceland’s future is far murkier, with its volcanic ash, demographic decline, and impending flooding by rising sea levels.

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Citizens of Iceland number 580,000 people, 50,000 of whom live overseas. Another 50,000 foreigners live in Iceland, which isn’t discussed much. No one seems worried about the future of the Icelandic nation, a contrast to Israel, where people worry about the Jewish people’s future.

It’s a green island surrounded by an ocean, possibly the loveliest and most fascinating gem in the world. It’s four times larger than Israel and mostly empty of people. Those who live here seemed relaxed and content – hard for anxiety-ridden Israeli facing dangers, real and imaginary, to fathom.

They aren’t worried about the ground literally burning under their feet or about a “demographic threat.” No one worries about “assimilation,” and “mixed marriages” aren’t an issue here. Emigration isn’t, either. Familial ties and connectedness to nature are more vital than anything else. There are no intimidating campaigns against emigration – certainly not against marrying foreigners. Why on earth would there be?

Icelanders are citizens of one of the few countries without a military. That doesn’t faze them, either. The port of Reykjavik had one coast guard vessel present this week. That’s their only weapon. They make do with their membership in NATO, which has its opponents – such as Ogmundur Jonasson, an impressive leftist who, over 21 years, served as a member of parliament and justice minister, interior minister, health minister, and communications minister. He is currently an activist for Kurdish national rights.

In Israel, no politicians are working for the rights of other nations – not even after retirement. When the heads of European countries convened here a few weeks ago, the police hurried to equip themselves with 100 new rifles. Sometimes, years go by with no murders here.

The annual number of murders is lower than the number of murders in Israel’s Arab communities on one bad day. The country sits strategically in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Icelanders fear no one. Sweden, its bigger sister, fears Russia much more. Icelanders have turned their weakness into a strength and their small numbers into an advantage. Their modesty and simplicity are also a strength. There are almost no monstrous luxury cars of the type found in Israel; singer-songwriter Bjork lives in a modest yellow house by the sea.

Think of Israel, then imagine its opposite. That’s Iceland. It’s hard to think of two greater contrasts, even excluding the clichés about behavior on the country’s roads, the level of cleanliness, the quiet, and the knowledge of English. Its breathtaking nature, hard to describe, makes Israel’s nature reserves seem puny. Tourism keeps knocking at the island nation’s door. Numbers are growing alarmingly, with locals worried about being inundated like other places ruined and made ugly by hordes of tourists.

A country with no military and no anxieties over any threats maliciously seeded in the minds of its population, which is busy living its life and enjoying nature, the sea, and the sheep. A country with 150,000 horses in an endless sea of green, with not a single horse introduced from overseas in the last 1,000 years; a country where the hot water in its taps comes from underground; a country with no Itamar Ben-Gvir. Imagine that.