Uri Avnery was a German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager and a veteran of the 1948 Palestine war, Avnery sat for two terms in the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981. He was also the owner and editor of the news magazine HaOlam HaZeh from 1950 until its closure in 1993.

Gush Shalom is an Israeli peace activism group founded by Uri Avnery in 1993. Avnery–a former journalist, Irgun and Knesset member–also led the organization till his death in 2018. The left-wing organization has been involved in several Israeli controversies, such as sending a "Relief Convoy to Gaza" while it is under Hamas administration, and the mainstream Israeli media has described it, on occasion, as "radical" and "extreme". In 2010, the American Friends Service Committee has described the group as "one of Israel's most influential peace organizations".