Dealer Dominique Lévy Says She Received Death Threats After Denouncing Post–October 7 Letter in Artforum

Dominique Lévy, one of the dealers behind the blue-chip New York gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan, spoke at length in a new profile about her response to October 7, claiming that she received death threats after publicly denouncing a 2023 open letter in Artforum that called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Published on October 19, 2023, the letter that ran in Artforum described Israel’s war in Gaza as an “escalating genocide” and demanded “an immediate ceasefire and the opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter unhindered.” It was signed by artists such as Nan Goldin, Tania Bruguera, Kara Walker, and many more.

The letter did not mention the October 7 Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people and involved the taking of more than 250 hostages. The day after that letter was published on Artforum’s website, Lévy, along with fellow dealers Brett Gorvy and Amalia Dayan, published a response with the publication, denouncing the letter for its “one-sided view.” One week later, Artforum editor David Velasco was fired; the magazine’s publisher said the letter’s publication “was not consistent with Artforum’s editorial process.” (Artforum is owned by Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of ARTnews and its sister publication Art in America.)

In a new profile put out by Tablet, a Jewish magazine that has published pieces in support of Zionism, Lévy addressed the response to October 7 more broadly in the US. She also spoke about one instance in which protesters pasted faux apology messages to her New York gallery’s facade. “We apologize deeply for our previous letter, which has contributed to the chilling, censorial environment around pro-Palestinian voices,” one message read.

“There were death threats and other constant acts of vandalism, we had to hire security,” she told Tablet. “It was pretty horrible.”

The profile, which termed Lévy “The Art World Queen Who Refused to Kneel,” was written by David Jager, whose past pieces for Tablet include an essay on the 2024 Venice Biennale that focused on the “anti-Israel antics” surrounding the exhibition. That year, the Israel Pavilion faced protests from pro-Palestine activists both before and during the show’s run. Jager’s piece decried the “shoddy illogic” of the protesters’ denouncements of Israel.

Lévy spoke to Jager about the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, saying that she personally confronted one protester to ask why she did not talk about the hostages taken by Hamas. (The protester responded by saying the hostages were “all AI,” according to Lévy.) “I really don’t think their protests have a clear connection to the events over there [in Gaza], because if they did, they’d be marching 10 times more for Ukraine or Somalia,” Lévy said.

Elsewhere in the Tablet article, she addressed American politicians’ response to October 7. “I think we have to give Trump his due,” she said, speaking to Jager on October 13, 2025, the day that the last living hostages were released. “So much could have gone wrong, but he knew exactly what every party needed. He knew that Egypt needed a guarantee of continuing American aid, he knew that Syria needed to be appeased, he knew that Qatar needed an apology, he knew that Netanyahu needed pressuring. Overall, I am hopeful and quite pleased. There are issues, sure, but there have been successes. The most important thing is that they are coming home.”

Describing a culture of “Jew hatred waking in the underbelly of the world,” Lévy also told Jager that her gallery was moved in 2025 to mount a show in New York for an Israeli artist, Ziva Jelin. One of Jelin’s paintings was damaged during the October 7 attack while being held in a gallery in the Be’eri kibbutz that the artist managed. Jelin has previously described hiding for 12 hours in a bomb shelter on October 7.

“We’ve been very vocal, but not in an aggressive way, in a loving way,” Lévy said. “I’m a romantic, you know? I think the only way to have a conversation is with a lot of love. I’m not there to attack anyone who disagrees with me. But I’m there to have a real conversation.”