Gal Uchovsky

Uchovsky was born in Israel in 1958 to a veterinarian father and a mother who organized cultural events.[1] He was the eldest of three siblings. His family relocated to Vienna when he was young and lived there until he was five, after which they returned to Israel and settled in Hadera.[1] He attended high school at the agricultural boarding school in Pardes Hanna.[1]

After completing his schooling, Uchovsky pursued an eclectic course of study and work. He studied law at Tel Aviv University and photography at Camera Obscura, and before entering journalism he worked as a flight attendant for El Al for seven years.[1] He later recalled having known from a young age that he was attracted to boys while growing up in Hadera during a period with little access to information about homosexuality.[2]

Uchovsky built his journalism career at two of Israel's leading publications. He wrote for the Tel Aviv weekly Ha'ir, eventually becoming an editor there, and later moved to Maariv, where he founded the culture magazine Tarbut Maariv.[1][3] His work encompassed music criticism and cultural commentary, and he was described in profiles as a journalist and music critic.[1]

On television, Uchovsky appeared on programs including HaMa'agal HaKatan, A Star Is Born, Gal and Margol, and Ma Atem Omrim.[1] He hosted the music-biography program Paskul Hayai, in which he interviewed cultural figures about the music that shaped their lives.[1] In 2005, he served as interviewer for the video production "Words Are All I Have," a 47-minute program featuring singer Hava Alberstein, produced by NMC TV for Keshet.[4]

Uchovsky and director Eytan Fox are life partners and creative collaborators who established a boutique production company, Uchovsky-Fox, intended to make their own films and projects by filmmakers they valued.[5] Uchovsky described the company as a small, efficient operation rather than a venture meant to conquer the world.[5] By 2020, Uchovsky said he and Fox had lived together for 30 years, though they had paused working together during a relationship crisis and later resumed after couples therapy.[2]

Uchovsky wrote the screenplay for Walk on Water (2004), directed by Fox. The film follows a Mossad agent tracking a gay German man who is visiting his sister on a kibbutz; their relationship links themes of homosexuality, Israeli politics, and the Holocaust.[5] The film opened the Berlin Film Festival's Panorama section in 2004, reported as the first Israeli film to do so, and was distributed in more than 30 countries.[6][5] Its worldwide earnings exceeded $7 million, which was reported at the time as more than any Israeli film had previously earned.[6] Historian Fania Oz-Salzberger named Walk on Water among the major Israeli works filmed partly or wholly in Berlin.[7]

Uchovsky co-wrote The Bubble (2006) with Fox as well.[6] The film follows Tel Aviv friends whose lives become complicated when one of them falls into a romantic relationship with a young Palestinian, combining comedy and romance in Tel Aviv's social "bubble" with a serious examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[6] Uchovsky and Fox had been personal and professional partners for approximately 18 years by the time of that film's release.[6]

Uchovsky argued that their films had contributed to the public legitimacy of homosexuality in Israel.[5] He pointed specifically to Yossi & Jagger — about a romance between two IDF officers at a Lebanon outpost — as significant because it portrayed a same-sex relationship within the mainstream setting of the Israeli military.[5] He also expressed the view that media and art exercise a major influence on LGBT visibility.[5]

In 2018, Uchovsky co-wrote the webseries The Bar Mitzvah with Ilan Peled.[8] The series centers on a gay New York couple who hire an event planner named Lilly to organize a lavish Jerusalem bar mitzvah for their son, Angel, nicknamed Angelina.[8] The project was available on the Blackpills app, and TLVFest presented it as a tribute to Uchovsky that year, announcing he would receive an honorary award alongside American independent film producer Christine Vachon.[8]

Uchovsky founded Israel Gay Youth (IGY), a national LGBT youth organization.[9] By 2015, the organization operated groups in 40 locations across Israel, from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south, with the aim of making adolescence easier for LGBT young people.[9] He served as its president for many years. His public visibility alongside Fox as a gay couple was also described as part of his contribution to Israel's LGBT community.[3]

At a 2012 gay-pride conference held at the Knesset, Uchovsky addressed the issue of "pinkwashing" — the criticism that Israel's government used its record on LGBTQ rights as a public-relations tool to deflect attention from other alleged wrongdoing. He argued that the government should make substantive reforms to protect gay rights rather than merely promoting them internationally, and called on officials to take real action.[10] His activism also included urging prominent artists to come out publicly. He later discussed having pressured singer Yehuda Poliker to come out and acknowledged that he had not fully understood how difficult and personal that decision could be.[2] That approach drew criticism, including from friends who felt he was too aggressive.[2]

Uchovsky's public impact has combined film, journalism, and institutional activism. His and Fox's films were credited with helping legitimize gay life in Israeli mainstream culture, particularly through Yossi & Jagger's portrayal of a same-sex relationship between IDF officers.[5] His work with IGY extended that visibility into an organization that by 2015 operated groups in 40 locations from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat.[9] His public presence with Fox was likewise presented as part of his contribution to Israel's LGBT community.[3]

In November 2021, Kan published accounts from two men alleging sexual misconduct by Uchovsky, including one encounter the complainant said became coercive and an unwanted advance during a work meeting.[11] Three complaints were ultimately filed, and police investigated Uchovsky.[12] In response to the initial report, he said the first encounter had been arranged as a sexual meeting, stated that he had not known the man felt harmed, and apologized for the distress described. He also apologized to the second man and resigned as president of IGY, saying he did not want the organization to be harmed.[11]

In 2022, the Central District Prosecutor's Office closed the case after examining the evidence.[13][12] Of the three complaints, one was found to be time-barred; in the other two, investigators determined that no criminal offense had occurred.[13] Prosecutors stated that although the complainants' testimony was found credible, the alleged acts did not cross the criminal threshold.[13][12] The closure was a prosecutorial determination and is distinct from the underlying allegations.