Antony Loewenstein (born 1974) is a freelance investigative journalist, author, and filmmaker based in Sydney. He covers the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and is known for his criticism of the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli Government. His grandparents had escaped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Loewenstein claimed German citizenship as an adult.
His 2023 book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, won and was shortlisted for several global literary awards.
Early life and education Antony Loewenstein was born in Australia in 1974. His paternal grandparents left Germany and Austria just before World War II, but many members of their family had been killed in the Holocaust.
Career Loewenstein has written for a number of publications, including The Guardian and Sydney Morning Herald.
Loewenstein contributed a chapter to Margo Kingston's 2004 book Not Happy, John, which highlighted the growing disenchantment with Australian prime minister John Howard. His 2006 book, My Israel Question, was a best-seller and shortlisted for a 2007 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award. The book was criticised in a review in Australian Jewish News.Questioning Israel (28 July 2006)
He is the co-editor with Ahmed Moor of the 2012 book After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine which includes essays by Omar Barghouti, John Mearsheimer, Ilan Pappé, Sara Roy, and Jonathan Cook, among others.Antony Loewenstein, Ahmed Moor, After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine , Saqi Books, (28 August 2012),
With South African filmmaker Naashon Zalk, Loewenstein was co-director of a 2019 Al Jazeera English documentary on abuse of the opioid drug tramadol in Nigeria, West Africa's Opioid Crisis. He appears in the 2019 documentary, This Is Not A Movie, about The Independents Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk. His 2019 book, Pills, Powder and Smoke, is on the global "war on drugs".
Loewenstein co-founded Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV).Andra Jackson, New group takes on Jewish lobby , The Age, 6 March 2007Australian Jewish leaders blast new NGO as anti-Zionist , The Jerusalem Post, accessed 15 September 2012.
In 2019 he was awarded the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize, which "recognises the inspirational and lifelong contributions of an individual advocating for Palestinian freedom, justice and self-determination".
In 2021, he co-founded Declassified Australia with fellow journalist Peter Cronau. The news website critically reports on Australia's relations with the world. He and UK film-maker Dan Davies co-directed the Al Jazeera documentary Under the Cover of Covid.
In 2023, he published , in the UK, US, and Australia, with multiple, translated editions. It was a long-list finalist in the 2023 Moore Prize For Human Rights Writing, and a best-selling book across the world. In November 2023 Loewenstein was awarded, in partnership with Banki Haddock Fiora, the Walkley Book Award for Longform Journalism for the book. The book won the People's Choice award and was also shortlisted for the 2024 Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction and the Nonfiction Book Award at the 2024 Queensland Literary Awards.
In 2024, he released a podcast series, The Palestine Laboratory, with the US outlet, Drop Site News.
In 2025, he released a two-part TV documentary based on his best-selling book, The Palestine Laboratory, made with the UK production company, Black Leaf Films. It was broadcast by Al Jazeera English. In the same year, he also released the documentary film, Germany's Israel Obsession, again with Black Leaf Films and Al Jazeera English.
In late 2025, he launched The Antony Loewenstein Podcast, a weekly program on politics.
He is currently writing a new investigative book on Israel/Palestine, to be released in late 2027. His research was facilitated by an award of the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund and Walkley Foundation to travel to Israel and Palestine.
Personal life Loewenstein became a German citizen, while maintaining Australian citizenship, as an adult in 2011, "as a way to rightfully re-claim our birthright", to honour his family that came from Germany, and to be allowed to work in European Union countries. However, he said in 2013 that he feels neither Australian nor German, describing himself as a "non-practising Jewish atheist currently based in Sydney".
Bibliography
Books
Contributor Kingston, Margo. Not Happy, John defending Australia's democracy. Paperback, 240 pages. Penguin Books, (2004) .
Editor Antony Loewenstein, Ahmed Moor, eds. After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine, Saqi, (2012),
Critical studies and reviews of Loewenstein's work The blogging revolution
References
External links