Our month at Breaking the Silence


August 11, 2015
Richard Kuper

breaking the silence

One year since Protective Edge
As we mark one year to Operation Protective Edge, this month we learned that the Israeli military police opened a number of criminal investigations following the soldiers’ testimonies we have published last May.
While we are glad to hear that the IDF understands and takes seriously our extremely meticulous investigative process, it looks like the army hasn’t really understood the meaning of what emerged from the testimonies. The testimonies clearly point out at the fact that the orders did not come from the field, but rather from the very top of the military hierarchy.
Once again, we call for a thorough and independent investigation that will examine the policies of the IDF during Operation Protective Edge and not singular specific events.
Read the full story

Holding Our Leaders Accountable – Not Soldiers Alone
Read this Op-Ed by BtS activist Nadav Bigelman where he explains how only an independent investigative committee will properly scrutinize the government and our military leaders and could provide an adequate response to the difficult questions raised by the soldiers’ testimonies.

Watch also this interview with Avner Gvaryahu, our former head of public outreach on CNN. Avner explains how although Israel must protect itself, it must also ask questions about HOW it does so and to make sure that we don’t cross our own red lines in the process.

This next article by Noam Sheizaf on +972 Magazine reveals the content of a lecture by former IDF Spokesperson Avi Bnayahu, in which, among other things, he talks about the IDF moral code.
The facts presented in the article are nothing new to us, as the soldiers’ testimonies from Operation Protective Edge clearly showed that the IDF has changed its combat norms without informing the public or its own soldiers.

Solidarity with Susiya

a-susiya
The story of the Palestinian village of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills is the story of the occupation: settler violence, expulsions, house demolitions, land takeover for settlement expansion, declaring archeological sites, creating training areas for the IDF and more.
As soldiers who served in the area we know the story of Susiya up close, some of us took part in former demolitions, some of us guarded the settlements around Susyia – we’ve all seen the results of our military control over the Palestinians.

This month we took part in the solidarity campaign with Susyia, which once again faces threat of demolition.

In order to better understand the story of Susyia, watch this video by Rabbis for Human Rights. (click on subtitles)

The artists Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso also chose to see this harsh reality and joined us on a visit in the village of ‪Susiya, to learn more about the threat of expulsion the Palestinian residents are facing.

Attempts to silence BtS by pro-occupation forces

This month Yesh Atid Party Chairman Yair Lapid decided to join the populist group of incitement against Breaking the Silence. Instead of taking responsibility for the decisions made by the cabinet they were a part of, our leaders are hiding behind the soldiers.

Lapid slams Kibbutz movement for inviting Breaking the Silence to address youth
Read this article in Haaretz about Yair Lapids’ hateful and slanderous campaign against the soldiers who served in the army and realized that it was their moral duty to talk about the reality of military rule in the territories.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely of the Likud party also continued her vicious campaign against us and questioned the legitimacy of the funding that we receive from States friendly to Israel.
If Tzipi Hotovely is worried about how Israel is perceived around the world than she should be less preoccupied with NGO funding from friendly states to Israel. Rather, she should be concerned about the real issue she and our leaders continue to ignore: our military control over the Palestinians.

Watch this debate between our Executive Director Yuli Novak and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely on Israeli channel 2.

Breaking the Silence Is a Legitimate Group That Should Be Encouraged, Not Silenced
Haaretz editorial
Breaking the Silence is a legitimate organization. In a democratic country, its activities should be encouraged, not silenced. BtS is seemingly one of the sole organizations that views the Israel Defense Forces’ morality as a priority.

Why I broke the silence
Nadav Weiman in Haaretz
I was hoping I could use my knowledge to help defend my country, but when the moment of truth arrived, I was sent to the occupied territories to control a civilian population.

We reminded MK Yair Lapid, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotoveli and anyone who continues to challenge our work that we will continue to break the silence as it is our right and our duty to take responsibility, ask questions, and seek change. As long as there is an occupation we will continue to break our silence as we believe in a better future for the state of Israel.

BtS tours this month

This past month we continued to take the public to tours to Hebron and the South Hebron Hills. Among others, students from Jstreet and Andy Bichlbaum of the inspirational activist duo ‘The Yes Men’ joined our tours.

Apparently the settlers in Hebron really don’t want the people who join us on tours to hear what our guides, soldiers who served in the area, have to say about the reality in Hebron.

Watch this video that shows how one of our public tours to Hebron was interrupted by the Civilian Security Coordinator of Kiryat Arba and his back up band of settler youth.

In hopes of better days to come,
The Breaking the Silence team

upcoming tour
28.08.15
Hebron

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