An IDF soldier gives an elderly Palestinian woman water. (middleeastmonitor.com)
Breaking the Silence, an anti-Israel NGO tarnishing the name of the IDF with false claims of war crimes, receives financial support from a Palestinian organization, among other foreign entities. The group is now banned from all IDF activities.
“Breaking the Silence,” an anti-Israel organization comprised of veteran IDF combatants who have served since the start of the Second Intifada and are ostensibly committed “to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories,” is financed by an organization operating within the Palestinian Authority (PA)-administered territories, a new report issued on Sunday by the Im Tirtzu Zionist student organization said.
According to the Im Tirtzu “Implants Report,” between 2013 and 2015, Breaking the Silence received $1,352,500 through the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, the UK and the EU.
Between 2008 and 2014, the anti-Zionist New Israel Fund gave Breaking the Silence a total of $707,300.
It also received $303,500 and an additional emergency grant from the Palestinian Fund Secretariat for Human Rights and International Law, operating out of PA-controlled Ramallah—which noted in its 2015 report that it paid Breaking the Silence to bring them at least one negative testimony against the IDF.
That same Ramallah-based fund has explicitly stated that the purpose of the core grant to Breaking the Silence is to support the propaganda campaigns the organization conducts in Europe and the United States among opinion makers, politicians and the Jewish community, to change public perception of the IDF and the Jewish State.
That same Ramallah-based fund paid Breaking the Silence to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza war by IDF fighters. Thanks to that grant, Breaking the Silence was able to release its report on Operation Protective Edge.
In 2015 it was revealed that foreign state entities have been paying Breaking the Silence to get “as many soldiers as possible” to testify about committing actions that violate human rights. Breaking the Silence provided has 57 testimonies against the IDF.
An International Campaign Against the IDF
Although the organization states its audience as being the Israeli public, which, they say, needs to be exposed to the reality of the IDF operations in the “occupied territories,” much of its efforts are devoted to spreading the anti-Israel message abroad.
In 2015, Breaking the Silence conducted at least nine events worldwide aimed at accusing the IDF of war crimes. Two of the events were held in Scotland. One was sponsored by the anti-Israeli organization Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP). The other by the anti-Israeli Scottish National Party (SNP). Similar events were held in Zurich, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Madrid, Spain. Three more were held in November in the US and the Netherlands.
Following the report of an IDF soldier who was detained in the United Kingdom for “war crimes,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Monday announced a ban on members of Breaking the Silence from entry to all IDF activities.
“We are aware of the foolish attempts by some organizations to slander Israel and IDF soldiers around the world,” said the Israeli Defense Minister. “This is a battle that requires us to reveal the true face of these people.”
“This is hypocrisy and false propaganda against the IDF and the State of Israel, and is part of the delegitimization campaign against us,” Ya’alon stated.
Anti-IDF ‘Testimony’ Remains Anonymous
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, their accusations are 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.
Breaking the Silence’s claims have been repeatedly debunked by soldiers who have come forward without concealing their identity.
By: JNI Media and United with Israel Staff
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