Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bernard-Henri L&eacute;vy (aka in France as BHL) is a French Jewish philosopher, columnist and writer with avowed Zionist ideological tendencies.


 * International Board of Governors, Peres Center for Peace

Off to Libya
Prior to the NATO intervention and arming of the opposition in Libya, BHL appeared in Bengazi, and called on NATO countries to confront Gaddafi militarily. Shortly thereafter President Sarkozy quote BHL's call as a justification for French intervention in Libya.

Zionist Activism
Bernard-Henri Lévy's attachment to Israel animates much of his anti-Muslim politics. He is an uncritical supporter. Shortly after Israel's assault on Gaza which left more than 1,400, a third of them children, dead, Levy wrote a long piece portraying Israel as the victim. He rejected the criticisms levelled against Israel in the Goldstone report, adding:
 * I don't think that Israel's main problem is to appease the world...I don't think that what Israel does will change the way the world judges it. Israel is prejudged...I don't know of another country in the world that has been in a state of war for 60 years and hasn't abandoned its democratic principles and has not lost its vitality.

According to Bernard-Henri Lévy 'the veil is an invitation to rape'. Laila Lalami observes:
 * It is interesting, too, that Lévy demands for himself that which he is not willing to give others. In 2004 he hired the designer Andrée Putman to renovate his vacation home in Tangier. The home lies next to the famous Café Hafa, whose regulars once included Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams and Jean Genet, and which has unparalleled views of the Mediterranean. Patrons of the cafe can no longer enjoy an unobstructed view, however, because during the renovations Lévy constructed a wall around his terrace, where his wife, the actress and singer Arielle Dombasle, likes to sunbathe. Lévy reportedly wanted to protect her from the eyes of the men at the Café Hafa. Unveiling only goes one way, it seems.

Criticism

 * Jade Lindgaard and Xavier de la Porte, The Impostor: BHL in Wonderland (Verso, 2012).

Resources

 * Serge Halimi, Lévy's pet hates, Le monde diplomatique, February 2008. (subscription)
 * William Dalrymple, Murder in Karachi, New York Review of Books, 4 December 2003
 * Doug Ireland, The Lies of Bernard-Henri Lévy, In These Times, 3 March 2006
 * Bernard-Henri Lévy, Why I Support a Ban on Burqas, The Huffington Post, 15 February 2010.
 * Gaby Wood, Je suis un superstar, Observer, 15 June 2003.
 * William Dalrymple, Murder in Karachi, New York Review of Books, 4 December 2003.

Related Sourcewatch

 * The New Humanitarians