The ordinary Zionist who embodied Israel's extraordinary spirit

Several media outlets operate an alternative to obituaries, usually reserved for the good and the great, to commemorate other lives. These are the ordinary citizens whose contributions are less seen but have led lives which leave an indelible impression on those who have known them.

Such a person is my friend Victor Levinson, of blessed memory, who died in Tel Aviv earlier this month after a short battle with a deadly cancer. To the end, Victor’s WhatsApp messages from his bed at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, where he was undergoing chemotherapy, were filled with optimism and laced with his good humour.

Even in his last days, his admiration for Israel and its capabilities burned brightly. During an Iranian missile attack on Israel, as the flawed Hormuz peace deal floundered, Victor wrote from his hospital bed: ‘Can you think of any other country that could transfer an entire hospital underground – patients, beds, medication, monitoring equipment, continuous hookup to drugs, etc. – without missing a beat?’

In Britain, where the presumptive Prime Minister Andy Burnham occupies himself by apologising for Labour’s alleged weakness on Gaza, we seldom receive any insight into how Israelis are coping in a perpetual war since 7 October 2023 – almost three years ago. The stresses across society are enormous, with daily lives constantly interrupted by incoming missiles, reservist call-ups and personal hardships. Amid the mayhem, Israel’s ability to adapt, as Victor’s note reflected, is remarkable and inspirational.

I first came to know Victor, the product of a fiercely Zionist Edinburgh family, when we were both studying for our master’s in business administration (MBAs) at Bradford University Centre in the early 1970s. I went on to a short career in corporate life before joining the Guardian as a financial journalist. Victor began a career in communications at the renowned global firm of Hill & Knowlton. He rose rapidly in ranks, providing services to international clients, and climbed the ladder to become a director of the firm by his late twenties. Victor’s life in London or possibly New York, the Hill & Knowlton HQ, looked set. He acquired a house in South Hampstead and seemed destined for a global business life.

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The Zionism of his youth remained a guiding principle, and when he married Angela, a Jewish actress, they decided to leave a prosperous London lifestyle behind to move to Israel. Victor was following in the footsteps of his elder sisters Sonia and Rose, who had made Aliyah and made lives in Israel. His delightful and munificent parents Simmy and Fanny, who had founded a successful wholesale carpets enterprise in Edinburgh, remained in Scotland (for the time being).

On arrival in Israel, Victor went to an ulpan, polished his Ivrit and volunteered for military training as a reservist, deciding this was his duty (although not compulsory) as a new citizen. He also set out on a new career path as communications officer at Teva, Israel’s renowned pharmaceutical giant. Victor would later strike out on his own, founding his own public relations agency specialising in helping to prepare tech start-ups for initial public offerings in Israel, London and other overseas markets. For a short time in the 1980s, he assigned himself to Vancouver, where he has tech clients.

Victor Levinson enjoys a meal in Israel, where he built his life after making aliyah from the UK.

Family obligations weighed heavily in his life, and in the 1990s he travelled to Edinburgh to bring his then-elderly parents to Israel for a holiday. Arrangements had been made by the family for more permanent residence in sheltered accommodation. His parents gifted the Levinson carpet warehouse to Edinburgh University, which was close by. Over the next several years, Victor found that an increasing amount of his time was devoted to the finest care and the well-being of his aged parents, who have since passed on.

Over the decades, as my offspring and those of our London friends went to Israel with various youth movements, Victor acted as a surrogate ‘uncle’, going out of his way to meet them, introduce them to friends and family and encourage them in a love of Israel.

His sharp analytical mind has over the years provided constant updates to family and friends in the UK on the current state of Israel, its politics and achievements. When Israeli start-ups such as Waze were sold to the Silicon Valley giants, he took enormous pride. It was as if he were the true founder himself!

On my own visits to Israel as a journalist, vice-president of the Board of Deputies and chairman of the Abraham Initiatives (UK) (a charity/NGO working on intercommunal Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel’s Green Line borders), Victor was a constant source of support. His politics were Likud. But long ago lost faith in Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister and regarded Naftali Bennett as a forward-thinker capable of unifying Israel’s disputatious tribes.

Victor Levinson’s life was that of an ordinary citizen. But his Zionism, friendships and family values represented the very best of British Jewry, making a new and productive life in Israel.