Is there glasnost in the New York Times Jerusalem bureau now that Jodi Rudoren has decamped for the United States? Yesterday the Times ran an article by Isabel Kershner about the government attacks on the courageous Israeli veterans’ organization, Breaking the Silence.
[Avihai] Stollar, 32, is now the research director of Breaking the Silence, and at the center of a furor that is laying bare Israel’s divisions over its core values and the nature of its democracy.
The article echoes a lot of the nationalist criticism of Breaking the Silence, and also includes a militarist justification for the group — “Breaking the Silence strengthens the I.D.F. and its morality,” says a former commander — but also some information:
The Israel Democracy Institute’s annual survey for 2015 found that the military was the national institution that earned the highest level of trust among Israeli Jews, with a score of 93.4 percent.
Critics of Breaking the Silence emphasize that the group is partly funded by donations from European governments, which they say amounts to meddling in Israel’s internal affairs. The critics also accuse Breaking the Silence of feeding into international boycott efforts against Israel through its activities like photographic exhibits and lectures abroad…
The group’s opponents question why it does not deal with its concerns internally. The Israeli military has a system for investigating allegations of misconduct.
Official attacks on Breaking the Silence have been the order of the day for years. At December 13’s Haaretz/NIF conference in New York, two Zionist heroes, Reuven Rivlin and Tzipi Livni, condemned Breaking the Silence from the podium, because Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence was also speaking at the conference.
And meantime some on the left are dismissive of Breaking the Silence as a shooting-and-crying organization: our friend Ofer Neiman saying: BtS “may serve Israeli interests quite well, and be used to fend off sanctions and attempts to isolate the regime.” True; but Breaking the Silence has also provided important testimonies about atrocities and war crimes, including the last Gaza slaughter. Co-founder Yehuda Shaul brought many westerners (including co-author Weiss) on their first tour of apartheid Hebron and the settlements in the Hebron Hills.
It takes a lot of courage to speak out against the dominant voice in your society — especially when you are wearing the uniform and telling the truth can lead to military punishment. If you want to understand Breaking the Silence’s global impact, look at “Blue Handed,” a deeply disturbing play by the pseudonymous Ah@d Ha’@m in the latest Massachusetts Review — based on a nightmarish Breaking the Silence testimony from 2007.
The main point is that the Mass Review scooped the New York Times. Electronic Intifada did so ten years ago. So did our site way back in 2006. But under the Rudoren regime at the Times, we never heard much of anything about Breaking the Silence (besides glancing references here and there). This organization of outspoken, articulate, compelling young Israeli men and women which isn’t even on the radical edge would have been the perfect subject of a profile for the last decade. Only now are they making the pages of the country’s agenda-setting newspaper.
On Twitter the Israel apologists say Breaking the Silence is an anti-Semitic organization and the testimonials are worthless as made anonymously. They give no credence at all if one responds that it takes real courage to participate in Breaking the Silence.
I watched some on the organization’s web site and they prefaced each testimonial shown there with the name of the speaker and his or her military unit. But maybe some are made anonymously?
Well,even though it may signal a change in the NYT Offices I doubt very much it will change the American Governments Special Relationship with Israel even though it is impossible for America to defend its support for Israel. The American Government is morally and ethically bankrupt.
I fully support Breaking the Silence and similar Israeli NGO’s.
Their existence proves that Israel is a strong, pluralistic society that can tolerate criticism.
That said, I’ve read many Breaking the Silence testimonies, and they seem quite tame, especially in regard to war crimes.
BTS at least provides some potential healing for those with PTSD. For that I am grateful.
Read this, please:
“Religious Ultranationalist Zionists Have Taken Over Israel – Gideon Levy/Haaretz
First they built the settlements, then they killed off the two-state solution, now they are free to turn to their next target.
We can already announce the winner. Religious ultranationalism, which hides behind the worn-out name “religious Zionism,” has won, big time. With the appointment of the new police commissioner, head of the Mossad and the expected appointment of the attorney general, each belonging to their camp, they have captured additional outposts of decisive power. Now the entire top leadership of the legal system (the state prosecutor and Tel Aviv district prosecutor are theirs too) and part of the defense establishment is in their hands. …”
https://platosguns.com/2015/12/25/religious-ultranationalist-zionists-have-taken-over-israel-gideon-levyhaaretz/
JSIL.
Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen @- and of MW.
Bless Gideon Levy.
After the Six Day War a book “Siaḥ Loḥamim” (“Soldiers’ Talk”) appeared, published in English as ‘The Seventh Day’. It contained interviews with some soldiers from a few Kibbutzim, largely conducted by Avraham Shapira and Amos Oz. These interviews exposed some inhuman acts by the army which troubled the interviewees. As the book became well known, read and discussed, various government leaders including Golda Meir, praised it as showing the moral conscience of the soldiers etc. Why? Because this was a way of neutralising its impact and trying to spin the bad news to the advantage of the Zionist state.
(The recent film “Censored Voices” is based on the same interview recordings. I am well aware of the criticisms of the film, but would still recommend it).
That the Breaking the Silence organisation comes under direct attack from many in the Israeli establishment and the public, yet also some gets nuanced praise from some senior military is therefore understandable.
What is not at all acceptable is when other critics of the IDF or Zionism attack these soldiers ‘from the left’. It is absolutely a duty of any solidarity movement to try and break open the unity of the oppressive army and to encourage critical voices from within the military.
I’ve read recent complaints from people objecting to not being allowed to join BTS because they hadn’t served in combat roles! Correct, it’s an organisation for those who have. You want to support the Palestinians? There are dozens of other organisations in Israel where you can use your commendable energies and beliefs – if these people are genuine. Don’t attack soldiers who speak out, we need their stories.
In a militarised, nationalistic society like Israel (and I do know what I am writing about from the inside), it really does take courage to do this. You risk losing your friends and family by taking such a stance, never mind the attacks from those you know are your enemies.