Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery also spelled Uri Avneri (Template:Lang-he), born September 10, 1923 in Beckum (Westphalia, Germany) as Helmut Ostermann, is an Israeli journalist and left wing peace activist. He was a member of the Knesset from 1965 to 1973 and again from 1979 to 1981. As a youth, he was a member of the Revisionist Zionist paramilitary group, Irgun. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he was a fighter in the Samson's Foxes jeep unit (and also wrote its anthem). Afterwards, he wrote a book about the war, called In the Fields of Philistia (Template:Lang-he, Bi-Sdot Pleshet).
During the 1950s and the 1960s he was the publisher and chief editor of the Haolam Hazeh weekly magazine, an anti-establishment tabloid known for many sensational scoops. The formula seemed to work, as for many years it was Israel's leading alternative-media publication.
He later turned to left-wing activism and founded the Gush Shalom (Template:Lang-he, The Peace Bloc) movement, which he leads up to this day. He is a devout secularist and strongly opposed to the Orthodox influence in religious and political life.
In 2002, a documentary directed by Yair Lev was made about Avnery's life entitled Uri Avnery: Warrior for Peace.
Avnery is a contributor to the news and opinion sites CounterPunch and LewRockwell.com.