John Lyons arrived in Jerusalem at the beginning of 2009 as The Australian newspaper’s Middle East correspondent. He landed with “great expectations” and stayed for six years.
His posting coincided with a series of regional shockwaves and his memoir includes segments on the Arab uprisings, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and ISIL, but really, Balcony Over Jerusalem centres on his growing and crushing understanding of “how Israel works”.
The balcony of the book’s title is the flat and the platform from which Lyons and his family view the “extraordinary landscape” of the Old City. Initially beguiled by his surroundings, bewilderment and disappointment soon set in.
Lyons documents with great skill the brutal architecture of the occupation and the relentless propaganda that Israel uses to coach and cajole foreign correspondents into reporting on Israel and Palestine matters from Tel Aviv’s point of view. The public relations machine kicks in as soon as Lyons’s appointment is confirmed. The challenge for Israel, he writes, “through its embassies and lobby groups, is how to make sure that foreign journalists do not stop the creeping annexation of the West Bank from continuing. Israel needs to portray itself as the vulnerable one”. He is wined, dined and advised before he leaves Australia.
The charm offensive crumbles after Lyons begins prodding away at the occupation. While Lyons reports what he sees, pro-Israeli advocacy groups seek to discredit him, launching increasingly aggressive and personal attacks upon him. This vitriolic lobby insist that he has been manipulated by Palestinian propagandists.
