Israeli's Breaking The Silence

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population’s everyday life.

A moving human shield
testimony catalog number: 17453
rank: Lieutenant
unit: Civil Administration
area: Bethlehem area
I’m not going to give a run-through of the day-to-day, because if you’ve talked to soldiers who served in the field then you certainly know all about the games—the village does have electricity, it doesn’t have electricity, shooting at the water tanks, and hours at the checkpoints [detaining Palestinians at the checkpoints at whim] and other things like that. Every soldier who’s served in the Territories knows all about it and knows that it’s become a kind of norm. But there were two episodes that upset me, first, because to me they were very serious, and second, because it was officers in the paratroops who did them. One was Captain ——, and the other a first lieutenant, when the captain was a company commander in the paratroops. Most of the complaints reached us in the end, they came to us. I’m talking about a complaint we got one day, at the entrance to Takua, where we weren’t stationed, which is why it happened, because we weren’t at that entrance. The soldiers went in without telling us, which is completely against procedure. The complaint was just incredible: IDF soldiers had tied a Palestinian to the hood of their jeep and drove through the village like that. The complaint just didn’t seem to make sense. We asked their operations room, they said, “We’ll look into it and get back to you.” It never happened. We said, “It never have happened.” They said to us, “Yes, there was something, you look into it.” It didn’t make sense, but a complaint like that, you can’t make it up. You can invent a complaint about a delay at a checkpoint, but this was so outrageous that something must have happened, they couldn’t just have made it up. My commander, a lieutenant colonel, and another officer went out there. Were you there? I was at the District Coordination Office and I was part of the investigation, and I know the guy that did it and everything. In the end he admitted it. They went there, and again we were told that it hadn’t happened. We started to investigate, started speaking to the soldiers. Apparently, that captain had gone to Takua, which is a pretty hostile village—they were throwing stones at the jeep. So he just stopped a Palestinian guy who was passing, forty-something years old, and tied him to the hood of the jeep, a guy just lying on the hood, and they drove into the village. No one threw any more rocks. A human shield. Yes. But not just a human shield—first of all, a human shield is bad enough—this was a moving human shield. Tied to the hood of the jeep and they drove with him tied there. Drove with him through the village, it’s horrific. That officer, by the way—a month before, we’d gone into the same village, Takua, he’d instructed his soldiers to stand on a hilltop, again, the same captain. I don’t want to screw him personally, but all these incidents are written and documented, witnessed and documented at the DCL, and it made it to the papers, at least the story with the jeep. And he admitted it and was sentenced to two weeks’ prison, and was dismissed from his command position. Which battalion was it? I don’t want to just say any name. It was a battalion stationed in Betar Ilit, I don’t remember which battalion exactly. When was this? In the middle of my service, something like that, March/April. But he was a captain in the paratroops, the incident made it to the media, to the papers. I’m almost sure it was Battalion 101, but I don’t want to say it for the sake of saying something. I remember I worked with them the most, they were there most of the time. But in any case, that same guy, a month before, we went into Takua. He gathered everyone and said, “Guys, I’m putting three snipers on the hilltop, and I’m parking the jeep right smack in the middle of the village.” You have to understand, they go out on patrol in Takua, it’s legitimate. To locate vehicles and to demonstrate a presence. But what he tried to do was get the [Palestinians] to crowd around and start throwing rocks. He said, “I don’t respond to rocks. When there’s enough of a crowd, the soldiers on the hill will take out their legs.” The Palestinians didn’t know there were soldiers behind them, and the soldiers would just spray their legs. It was prevented only because I was there and another officer, and we prevented it. We reported it but it was smoothed over. It was just appalling. His one goal was to lure Palestinian children, just to cut off their legs. It was horrific. This is the same captain who led the incident we were talking about.

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/database/17453

Many more testimonies in their database.

And yet none of them will come forward with testimony, which leaves this unsubstanicated and unable by Israeli forces to conduct any investigations.
Also this organisation is funded with one intent against Israel which has been exposed many times.


Plus there is always two sides:


A group of former IDF soldiers, incensed by an Israeli NGO’s claims that they abused Palestinians during Operation Protective Edge last summer, have taken to social media to fight the allegations.
Under the hashtag #my_truth in Hebrew, the soldiers, many of whom faced heavy fire from Hamas and other terrorist groups during the 50-day operation, have begun posting stories of cases showing how they went to great lengths to avoid harming Palestinians. They also mentioned incidents in which Gaza civilians took part in terrorist activity.


The goal of this initiative is to counter damning anonymous “testimony” by other troops published by Breaking the Silence, an NGO that frequently publicizes allegations that the IDF abuses Palestinians.
Breaking the Silence touts itself as an organization of ex-IDF soldiers who collect testimonies from troops that served in Palestinian areas since the start of the Second Intifada.
While claiming that their goal is to “raise awareness over the everyday reality of serving in the occupied territories and to create a discussion about the cost of military control over a civilian population for so many years,” the NGO refuses to post the names of the soldiers who testify. They have also refused to pass along their accounts to the IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Corps for investigation, despite repeated requests by senior IDF officials.
Furthermore, the latest accusation was first published in English and released to the foreign media. Breaking the Silence members routinely go abroad to spread their allegations instead of taking their complaints directly to the IDF or civilian courts.
The latest counter-initiative to the NGO report began after Israeli Member of Knesset Zehava Galon, head of the ultra-left Meretz party, posted hostile testimony last Tuesday on her Facebook page, saying: “The unit identified two figures walking in an orchard around 900 meters from where we were posted. The figures were two girls. The observation post could not see them well, so the commander sent a UAV. The UAV marked them as dangerous. The unit directed an aircraft who fired on the girls, killing them. When the bodies were checked they had no weapons on them.”
Such accounts, which purport to show the IDF in a bad light, have prompted numerous counter claims.
Revealing the Truth to Counter Accusations
After reading the Breaking the Silence pamphlet, former IDF soldier Matan Katzman wrote on his Facebook page last Thursday: “During Operation Summer Rains in Beit Hanoun [in the northern Gaza Strip in 2006], we entered a house with a couple living in it. We asked them if they’re involved with Hamas, they said ‘no, not at all.’ We asked them if they have weapons in the house, [and] they said ‘no, not at all.’ We stayed in the house for a couple of hours. When we left, we moved the couch and discovered an IED.”
The informal pro-IDF campaign by former Israeli soldiers also cited examples of humane and respectful behavior towards non-combatants during operations in Judea and Samaria.
Avishai Shorsham referred during testimony to his Facebook post last Wednesday, in which he wrote: “During an operation in the Shechem [Nablus] kasbah, while we are in the middle of a stakeout, an old man who lived in the house felt sharp pain in his chest. Against orders, we evacuated him in the middle of the night while endangering ourselves.”
According to the organization’s website, the recent Breaking the Silence pamphlet was produced with the “generous support” of foreign organizations such as Christian Aid, Dan Church Aid, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Secretariat and the Open Society Foundations founded by George Soros, a billionaire known for his extreme left-wing and anti-Israel activism


http://unitedwithisrael.org/soldiers-counter-breaking-silence-claims-idf/

Look at the Zionist rat run across threads to defend the monsters. HA HA!

Zionist?

Oh my the childish boy still cannot grow up into a man I see.

So you do not want to debate but prove you are a child

Yep, an atheist Zionist, you couldn't make it up. He says the the territory of the West Bank is not occupied, the illegal settlers are not illegal but on 'disputed' land etc etc. A fully fledged, round the bloody twist, fully indoctrinated Atheist Zionist.

sassy wrote:Yep, an atheist Zionist, you couldn't make it up.  He says the the territory of the West Bank is not occupied, the illegal settlers are not illegal but on 'disputed' land etc etc.  A fully fledged, round the bloody twist, fully indoctrinated Atheist Zionist.

Which proves whjy Sassy is not very bright.
How can an athiest believe in a religious right to a land?

Doh

Answers on a post card.

You see this is all that Hamas supporters can do, attempt to deligitimize anyone that differs to their views and why they lie continually to promote their hate against Israeli Jews.
Its not rocket science to see the same lame tactics.
So again for an investigation why is it none of these so called former IDF have come forward to give evidence?
Spare the crap their lives will be in danger once the details are out because that is just a copout

Zionism is a movement founded by Theodor Herzl in 1896 whose goal is the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael, or Zion, the Jewish synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.

The name of "Zionism" comes from the hill Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was situated.

Supporters of this movement are called "Zionists".

Today there is much confusion among Jews over the meaning of the term Zionism. It means different things to different people.

The reason for this is that historically, Zionism has been a movement dominated by secularist Jews. Herzl and most of his colleagues were assimilated Jews, who did not believe in or practice the Torah. Some Zionists were vehemently anti-religious, and saw the Torah and mitzvos as outdated rituals with no place in their modern state.
http://www.truetorahjews.org/whatiszionism

Again explain why how an athiest can back zionism?

I do not back any religious right to a land.

So that means I do not support Zionism.

I do support self determination for Israeli Jews.


Doh

I rest my case, nothing about the debate.
I offer counter views, then the Hamas supporters try to deligitimize me as a poster, even though Zionists come in many political view points also from left, to Liberal to ultra right.
Though again I do not back Zionism, which is not an extremist belief system, unlike many Islamic ones.

Its easy to debate the extreme left and the extremist Muslim, they have nothing to counter with.

Cuchulain wrote:Zionist?

Oh my the childish boy still cannot grow up into a man I see.

So you do not want to debate but prove you are a child

You have admitted on this very board to being a Zionist and proud. So, yes: Zionist.

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:Zionist?

Oh my the childish boy still cannot grow up into a man I see.

So you do not want to debate but prove you are a child

You have admitted on this very board to being a Zionist and proud. So, yes: Zionist.

Oh dear, so here we go your insanity is getting worse I see.
Again I do not back any belief to a religious right to a homeland.
All of which is irrelevant and is nothing more than you not being able to respond to points as per usual.

Cuchulain wrote:

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

You have admitted on this very board to being a Zionist and proud. So, yes: Zionist.

Oh dear, so here we go your insanity is getting worse I see.
Again I do not back any belief to a religious right to a homeland.
All of which is irrelevant and is nothing more than you not being able to respond to points as per usual.

Good. I'm glad you have seen the error of your ways and no longer a Zionist.

Let's see if you can keep that up.

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:

Oh dear, so here we go your insanity is getting worse I see.
Again I do not back any belief to a religious right to a homeland.
All of which is irrelevant and is nothing more than you not being able to respond to points as per usual.

Good. I'm glad you have seen the error of your ways and no longer a Zionist.

Let's see if you can keep that up.

Boring, I see you are back tracking to debate the topic.

I am an ardent supporter of of both israeli Jews and Arabs to self determination as I am for Palestinian Arabs for a state with self determination, though the later has to have a democratic election and secular laws. As being a person of Liberal views I cannot back the formation of a nation that has theocratic laws that openly discrminate against women, homosexuals and non-Muslims.

Breaking the Silence -- And Filling It with Propaganda



(The Washington Jewish Week posted the CAMERA Op-Ed below on July 24, 2015.)

Capital Fringe Festival, a Washington, D.C. arts and entertainment presentation, prides itself on being “able to connect exploratory artists and adventurous audiences.” The 22-day festival (it closes on August 2) has drawn crowds to various venues, including sold-out productions at the Atlas Theater of It's What We Do, described on the Fringe Web site as “A Play about the Occupation.”
The Pamela Nice-written and directed effort better could be described as anti-Israel agit-prop. Festival publicity declares that in It's What We Do, “courageous Israeli soldiers from Breaking the Silence dare to speak out against the Occupation [capitalization in the original] policies they enforce. Their service in the Palestinian territories was a transforming experience. They show us a reality they can no longer hide.”

Except that's not what Breaking the Silence does. The Washington Post (“Israeli soldiers allege ‘ethical failure' in Gaza,” May 5, 2015) noted that “the testimonies in the report [Breaking the Silence's collection of soldiers' allegations about last summer's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip] are anonymous and impossible to independently verify. … Breaking the Silence does not provide the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] with any proof of their claims.”

Fringe spokesman Seth Morrison (also a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, described by the Anti-Defamation League as “the most influential anti-Zionist group in the United States” and one that lends “a veneer of legitimacy” to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement) said the script of It's What We Do would not be released. He added, however, that the bulk of Nice's dialogue essentially paralleled the book Our Harsh Logic, by Yehuda Shaul. Shaul is a founder and current co-director of Breaking the Silence.

Nice herself has said “the play is drawn directly from the testimonies in the book.”

Unfortunately, festival audiences aren't likely to know that NGO-Monitor, CAMERA and other organizations have described Breaking the Silence as dedicated to providing non-Israelis with defamatory, often unsubstantiated allegations about the IDF.

Shaul's book contains roughly 70 first-hand accounts from troops in the militarybetween 2000 and 2010. But tens of thousands served then; Shaul's sample may be unrepresentative.

European donations fund anti-Israel defamation

Breaking the Silence advertises itself as a not-for profit Israeli organization, but receives a great deal of foreign donations. These come mostly from European groups or governments opposed to Israeli policies if not to Israel itself. For example, Broederlijk Delen, a Belgian Christian charity, supports Breaking the Silence. It also donates large sums to anti-Israel groups.
Another significant funder of Breaking the Silence is Terre Solidaire, a French company that has boycotted Israeli products or service providers such as the Orange telephone firm.

According to NGO-Monitor, the more recipients of such European money publicize what Breaking the Silence calls the “catastrophes of Israel,” the more funds foreign donors provide. This returns us to It's What We Do. In repackaging Breaking the Silence's anonymous, unverifiable accusations for theatrical purposes, it amounts to one more ripple in a stream of propaganda—artistic, academic, journalistic and political—intended to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state.

What would a “daring, courageous” look at Israel's occupation policies in the “Palestinian territories,” theatrical or otherwise, actually tell us?

That Israel hasn't occupied the Gaza Strip since its unilateral withdrawal in 2005? That the Strip has been ruled since then mostly by Hamas, an Islamist terrorist movement whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and genocide of the Jews? That Israel's military incursions, in response to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist mortar and rocket barrages have resulted, according to U.N. estimates, in lower non-combatant-to-combatant casualty rates than those caused by U.S.-led coalitions in Afghanistan and Iraq? That the standard of living in Gaza—partial Israeli and Egyptian blockades notwithstanding—is, according a recent Bloomberg News article, higher than in much of the developing world (and higher yet in the West Bank)?

Bucking the group-think of anti-Israel agit-prop and telling a factual, complicated story in an entertaining manner—now that would take real artistic creativity and courage.

Another Fringe offering this summer, Artful Justice, a Hitler “comedy,” might simply have been a show biz mistake. But It's What We Do was no mistake; it was an anti-Israel hit-job.

The writers are, respectively, a student at Stern College in New York City and intern at the Washington office of CAMERA, and CAMERA's Washington director.

Addenda

Additions to “Breaking the Silence—And Filling it with Propaganda” as it appeared at the Washington Jewish Week online:


An online biographical sketch for Morrison, Capital Fringe spokesman, also lists him as a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, described by the Anti-Defamation League as “the most influential anti-Zionist group in the United States” and one that lends “a veneer of legitimacy” to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.



Nice has said, “while I was writing this play, the bombs were dropping on Gaza, the children bleeding from shrapnel, as hundreds of thousands of refugees sought to escape the destruction. Let’s not delude ourselves in thinking that Hamas rockets started this conflagration: it is an organic, deadly outgrowth of the Israeli occupation of Palestine [Sic.]”



Inversion such as Nice’s confuses cause and effect. It ignores Hamas’ remorseless determination to war with the Jewish state and use the inevitable Palestinian dead and wounded as public relations props. It whitewashes Arab denial of the Jewish right to some portion at least of eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel). As a result, it amounts to a form of delusion itself.



Capital Fringe Festival donors in recent years have included, among many other sustaining sponsors, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which separately has supported theater, music, and media to the Washington District of Columbia Jewish Community Center; the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which contributed to the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington, the Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C. and the Jewish Social Service Agency; the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, a backer of the JCC of Greater Coney Island; and the Reva and David Logan Foundation, which supported AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.



Jews and Jewish philanthropies are renowned for supporting the arts and humanities. The case of the Capital Fringe Festival’s It’s What We Do should remind donors and ordinary theatergoers alike to read their Playbills closely.



http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=118&x_article=3061

Cuchulain wrote:Again explain why how an atheist can back Zionism? through this sort of illogical bullshit you post that's dumb, You DO it so how can you claim to be atheist yet think a religious sect should have claim to a specific piece of land????

I do not back any religious right to a land. So Modern Israel should not have any connection to Judaism???

So that means I do not support Zionism. Yes you do despite all the reasons you have given in practice you are supporting Zionism, WHY?

I do support self determination for Israeli Jews. And torture death dispossession for Palestinians at Israeli hand As that is what Israel has decide to do

Plus Why do you only support the rights on one religious group that inhabit the land?
Doh
Yes didge.. Do'h

veya_victaous wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:Again explain why how an atheist can back Zionism?  through this sort of illogical bullshit you post          that's dumb, You DO it so how can you claim to be atheist yet think a religious sect should have claim to a specific piece of land????

I do not back any religious right to a land. So Modern Israel should not have any connection to Judaism???

So that means I do not support Zionism. Yes you do despite all the reasons you have given in practice you are supporting Zionism, WHY?

I do support self determination for Israeli Jews. And torture death dispossession for Palestinians at Israeli hand As that is what Israel has decide to do

Plus Why do you only support the rights on one religious group that inhabit the land?
Doh
Yes didge.. Do'h

       

And yest again another poor unitelligent reply.

Point 1) Waffle which makes no sense again. I do not back a religious beleif to a land, I believe in self determination, something you still fail to even understand.

Point 2) Never claimed any such thing, I just do not believe in any religious belief. Jews happen to do so just as Muslims do.

Point 3) Claiming I do is yet again making things up as you go along and looking to argue for the sake of arguing when you have nothing credible in your reply.

Point 4) I believe in Palestinians having self determination also as long as they do noyt conflict with the equality and well being of others within their laws. To say I back torture and death would mean you do as in Gaza they murder out of hand any opposition by your illogical views, of any attack on Israel by rockets which every single one is deemed a war crime. This is why you have little intelligence and your replies are emotive lacking substance.

Point 5) Again illogical hence why I generally have someone with such a poor intellect on ignore because they are not worth even engaging in an intellectual debate.

Again I back the right of a people to self determination, even though you deny this of people who have should have self determination in Australia making you the worst hypocrite going in regards to the aboriginals who also believe in rights based on their religious beliefs.
What you fail to graps is that their religious views may have significance to them, like any religious group, I may not believe those religious views, but respect they have a right to them, as long as they do not conflict with the well being and equality of others.

1>lol self determination FOR ONE SPECIFIC GROUP YOU DEFINED BY THEIR RELIGION Do'h try using some basic logic and reading what you write.. and like every case Define self determination? you cant cause it is fucktard statement from a Brit that has not fucking clue. You cant give ONE group self determination over another without being a racist fuck retard.

2>are you really this stupid? what do your personal belief have to do with supporting a religious State? IF you really Believed what you preach then you would not support any theocratic State or any links between church and state.

3> read your posts pretty black and white you think Jews own Palestinian land and that Palestinians are criminals fro living on their own land.. that is a Zionist dickhead it doesn't matter what You want to call your self, You are BY ACTION a Zionist like a racist it doesn't matter if you don't think you are. You saying you are not Zionist is like Tommy saying he is fine with gay people.

4> then you support Israel settler being charged with these crimes and ZERO PRESENCE of IDF in Palestine. A nation cannot be self determining in anyway shape or form if there is a foreign Military occupying it.

5>lol you just got owned
you know it you lost suck it Zionist racist ----

veya_victaous wrote:1>lol self determination FOR ONE SPECIFIC GROUP YOU DEFINED BY THEIR RELIGION Do'h try  using some basic logic and reading what you write.. and like every case Define self determination? you cant cause it is fucktard statement from a Brit that has not fucking clue. You cant give ONE group self determination over another without being a racist fuck retard.

2>are you really this stupid? what do your personal belief have to do with supporting a religious State? IF you really Believed what you preach then you would not support any theocratic State or any links between church and state.

3> read your posts pretty black and white you think Jews own Palestinian land and that Palestinians are criminals fro living on their own land.. that is a Zionist dickhead it doesn't matter what You want to call your self, You are BY ACTION a Zionist like a racist it doesn't matter if you don't think you are. You saying you are not Zionist is like Tommy  saying he is fine with gay people.

4> then you support Israel settler being charged with these crimes and ZERO PRESENCE of IDF in Palestine. A nation cannot be self determining in anyway shape or form if there is a foreign Military occupying it.

5>lol you just got owned
you know it you lost suck it Zionist racist ----

Point 1) More inane drivel. Self determination is for a group of people no matter whether religious or not being that Israel is a secular country anyway. The rest of your point one was just you throwing your dummies out and ranting.

Point 2) More inane waffle and no point made but an opinion about me, which is illogical yet again. Israel is a secular state, that has many religious people and some religion incorrporated within the state. It is not religiously run by religious laws, but by secular laws. All of which is irrelevant as it is about backing the right of a group of ethnic people to self determination as long as their laws do not conflict with the well being and equality of its citizens.

Point 3) Its getting more emotive your replies as they go along and you are just inventing things as you go along.

Point 4) I am against Israel settlements and have even posted on another thread on this tonight and also stated they are a big hiderance to bringing about peace. This again proves you just invevnt drivel for the sake of looking for an argument.

Point 5) Hence why I and others need to pat you on the head when you come out with claiming I am a Zionist racist, which just sums up your lack of intellect

Dodge is finding it increasingly difficult to defend Zionism.

We all know he supported Zionism up to just a few months ago but the actions of the Israeli government and Natanyahu in particular has made his previous position look rather barbaric.

Fuzzy Zack wrote:Dodge is finding it increasingly difficult to defend Zionism.  

We all know he supported Zionism up to just a few months ago but the actions of the Israeli government and Natanyahu in particular has made his previous position look rather barbaric.

So still nothing to counter points made.
I find it easy to debate Muslims who support Hamas, they have no free will and are led not by common sense but a duty to support fanatics.

Cuchulain wrote:

Fuzzy Zack wrote:Dodge is finding it increasingly difficult to defend Zionism.  

We all know he supported Zionism up to just a few months ago but the actions of the Israeli government and Natanyahu in particular has made his previous position look rather barbaric.

So still nothing to counter points made.
I find it easy to debate Muslims who support Hamas, they have no free will and are led not by common sense but a duty to support fanatics.

You made zero points and have failed to answer the thread without diversion.

Let me know when you answer directly.

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:



So still nothing to counter points made.
I find it easy to debate Muslims who support Hamas, they have no free will and are led not by common sense but a duty to support fanatics.

You made zero points and have failed to answer the thread without diversion.

Let me know when you answer directly.

What a copout, I raised points and question and now you do as per usual and attempt to weasel out.
How pathetic