Levy brings official voice of Israel to SAR Academy

Eylon Levy is truly dedicated to Israel and its people. And he brought that love this past week to students at SAR Academy.

Born and raised in London, Levy moved to Israel at 23, enlisting in the military there at the height of the 2014 Gaza war.

After his service, Levy decided to stay in Israel, first serving as the international media advisor to the Israeli president before becoming the government’s official spokesman following the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7.

On Monday, Levy was scheduled to address the entire student body at the West 254th Street campus. But first, he sat down with school principal and rabbi Binyamin Krauss, teachers, and a few people from the community.

Once everyone gathered, Levy could see teachers wearing a piece of tape with “150” written on it. The tape is part of a movement started by the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages taken by Hamas, which counts the number of days he’s been missing.

Levy might have been the VIP at SAR, but for him, the real star was U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, who he says “has been doing a phenomenal job of fighting for the Jewish community, fighting for Israel.”

“I’m leaving feeling energized and strengthened,” Levy said.

Both are people to be revered, Krauss said.

“For all of us to be in the presence of two people who have such strong powerful voices of integrity, passion, of support against a lot of opposition,” the principal said, “we’re very, very grateful.”

Levy wanted to leave the room at SAR with both his impressions of his 10-day trip to New York as well as answers to any questions students and teachers there may have had. He needed people to feel what is happening to Israel is also happening to them, that there is no difference between those abroad and those here in the United States.

Levy urged the crowd to strengthen the connection to Israel and the Jewish people, all before somewhat jokingly asking if the school had a debate club.

But it is important, he said, because students need “to think on their feet, and argue on their feet, and stand up for themselves. It’s an intellectual battle.”

The conversation topic shifted to antisemitism, a topic Levy had considerable thoughts about.

“I was at the march for the hostages yesterday, there was a woman who told me she’s pulling her kids out of school in New York and taking them to Connecticut because they’re getting swastikas,” he said.

Does that mean hate such at this is spontaneous. Torres quickly answered no.

“It’s like a cancer that goes into remission that then resurfaces,” the congressman said. “Two years ago, when there was a conflict between Hamas and Israel, we saw an outbreak of antisemitism on college campuses. So, events in the Middle East tend to drive a resurgence of antisemitism in the United States.”

Torres believes the majority of the hatred comes from individuals radicalized by social media.

“I mean, if you’re delusional enough to believe that there’s a genocide,” he said, “what logically follows from that is violence. That kind of rhetoric escalates to violence.”

“People genuinely believe these lies,” Levy added. “So, we have to do something about this.”

Torres say he has found it hard to converse with his constituents, stating he believes it to be bigger than just a difference of opinion, but more that others lived in different realities and spoke different languages.

This past week, Torres said he attended a House panel where Jewish college students recounted tales of antisemitism on campus. The Ivy League schools are worse when it comes to outbreaks of hatred, he added, because he has never had problems at his local community colleges, such as Hostos and Bronx Community College.

“The case for Israel and fighting to bring back hostages and destroying a terrorist army that has threatened to burn whole families is very common-sensical, and unfortunately it takes an elite education to do the intellectual somersaults needed to try and justify that,” Levy said.

That did prompt Torres to jokingly ask if Levy was not a fan of intersectionality and decolonization, drawing some chuckles from the crowd chuckled.

One teacher asked what she could be doing with her students to help their counterparts in Israel. They have been writing letters and singing for the students abroad, but she wanted to know what else would be helpful.

When Levy was a child, being a pen pal made all the difference. Today, it’s better to take a much more direct approach.

“I think one of the most important things is not treating Israel as this cause a thousand miles away,” he said. “They should have Israeli friends they can FaceTime with.”

After some prayer and singing, Torres shared some final thoughts to help Levy wrap up his American trip.

“As someone who lived through 9/11 — which was the deadliest terrorist attack against the United States — I never forgot that Israel stood with America in its moment of greatest need,” he said.

“I want you to know that the United States stands with Israel in its greatest need.”

Levy’s final thoughts were directed at SAR’s students.

“Each of you has a voice,” he said. “Each of you has the ability to make a real difference. And step by step, prayer by prayer, coloring book by coloring book, duffel bag by duffel bag, we can all take a little step at making our very broken world a better place.”