Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery dies at 94

Uri Avnery, a trailblazing Israeli journalist and peace activist and one of the first to openly advocate for a Palestinian state, has died. He was 94. Avnery passed away on Monday at a Tel Aviv hospital after suffering a stroke. For decades, he was a symbol of the Israeli peace camp, easily recognized by his thick white beard and white hair. A member of Israel’s founding generation, he fought in its war of independence before becoming a publisher, member of parliament, author and activist. In the 1982 Lebanon War, he famously sneaked into besieged Beirut to talk to Israel’s then-nemesis, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. Avnery challenged successive Israeli governments in arguing that a Palestinian state was the only way to secure peace for a democratic Israel with a Jewish majority.