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Introduction

The Israeli NGO known as Breaking the Silence (BtS) describes its mission as “expos[ing] the Israeli public to the routine situations of everyday life in the Occupied Territories…. pushing Israeli society to face the reality whose creation it has enabled” (emphasis added).

2012-17 donors include: Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands), Trocaire (Ireland), Dan Church Aid (Denmark), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), Christian Aid (UK), Switzerland, France, CCFD (France), Medico International (Germany),
Misereor (Germany), AECID (Spain), EU, ICCO (Netherlands), Norway, Luxembourg, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Institute, New Israel Fund, and others.

Through repeated allegations of “war crimes” and “violations of international law,” many of the organization’s activities reinforce the 2001 Durban Strategy, which crystallized the tactics of BDS (boycott, divestments and sanctions), delegitimizing Israel as “an apartheid regime,” and international isolation.

BtS makes sweeping accusations based on anecdotal, anonymous, and unverifiable accounts of low-level soldiers. These “testimonies” lack context, are politically biased, and erase the complicated reality in the West Bank. In addition, they reflect a distorted interpretation of the conflict in order to advance the political agenda of BtS activists, thereby fueling the international demonization campaign against Israel. (For a detailed analysis of this dimension, see “Breaking What Silence? A Critical Reading of Allegations from ‘Breaking the Silence,’” NGO Monitor Report, February 1, 2011).

Despite claiming to address Israeli society, BtS’s lobbying and media advocacy focus on international audiences, including appearances in Europe and the United States. Yehuda Shaul, BtS co-founder, defended the practice of generating international pressure: “Sometimes, when you want to deliver messages to the inside, you must go outside.”

Activities

Activities targeting international audiences, as shown in the following table, include:

• Speaking tours at more than 20 American university campuses, including in California and New York, where BDS initiatives were in progress.
• Numerous articles in international media platforms – in France, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and the US – during the Gaza War, contributing to demonization campaigns and false allegations of “war crimes.”
• Scotland – In October 2015, a BtS representative gave a number of lectures in Scotland, among them to the friends of Palestine in the SNP party and to the NGO “Medical Aid for Palestinians”. The first supports the “right of return” and BDS, and the second was involved in antisemitic campaigns.
• The cultural center in Zurich hosted an event, June 4 –14, 2015, featuring the BtS photo exhibition, as well as demonizing “testimonies.” The event was sponsored by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the Municipality of Zurich, and several church groups that are active in delegitimization campaigns against Israel.
• The European Union parliament – In May 2015, BtS former CEO, Dana Golan (it remains unclear as to what exact position she currently holds in the NGO) lectured to the left parties’ coalition (GEU/NGL) in the EU. This coalition supports a full boycott of the state of Israel and has also met Omar Barghuti, a leader of BDS campaigns.
• An October 21, 2013 presentation to the virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, at which the Palestinian deputy representative to the UN asked BtS “to do more speaking engagements, particularly in the United States.”
• A photo exhibition, purporting to portray “the day-to-day reality of service” in the West Bank, accompanied by members of BtS who conduct guided tours through the exhibition. Promoting a June 2014 exhibit in Dublin, Yehuda Shaul claimed: “The photographs and testimony refute the false claim that the horrors of the occupation are the exception rather than the norm.” At the Stockholm Army Museum in March 2011, BtS member Itamar Shapira told a reporter, “We are the oppressors, we are the ones that are violating human rights on a daily basis. We are creating the terror against us, basically… This is a war against civilians, a war against society.” The exhibit has travelled throughout Europe and the United States.
• A highly tendentious book titled Occupation of the Territories – Israeli Soldier testimonies 2000-2010 (later called Our Harsh Logic), which was translated into Swedish, German, French, and Dutch. NGO Monitor analysis has revealed that this book is premised on predetermined “analyses” that falsely portray Israeli actions as “terrorizing the civilian population.” The launching of the book in various languages serves as a platform for further demonization and delegitmization of Israel, including accusations of “racism” and alleged “political assassinations” of Palestinians, claims that Gaza is still “occupied,” and the implication that Israel is ethnically cleansing “Area C.”
• Participation in a June 2013 conference organized by Defence for Children International – Palestine Section (DCI-PS), a Palestinian NGO that is active in allegations of Israeli violations and advancing BDS campaigns. The event was aimed at “raising awareness on the situation of Palestinian children being deprived of their liberty,” and BtS representative Avihai Stollar alleged that “violence was part of the soldiers’ behaviour, when arresting minors.”
• In March/April 2013, Yehuda Shaul, met with a delegation from the South African Parliament, geared towards promoting a pro-BDS agenda in South Africa. According to the “draft report” of the delegation’s visit, “[Shaul] told the Committee delegation that during the war their mindset as soldiers was always ‘playing defence’ but in reality they were ‘playing offence’…For him, what became clear was that their main objective was to repaint the green line… He said that he agreed with the intention of the BDS movement but he felt that its approach could compromise the goal. He elaborated that internal work needed to be done, external work was also needed” (pp. 33-34, emphasis added).
• Participated in the “Open Hillel” Conference in Cambridge, MA (October 11-13, 2014). The conference sought to compel the large Jewish campus organization Hillel International to drop its guidelines that proscribe partnerships with groups that “[d]eny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders.” These guidelines are essential “to build an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel.”
• Regular English-language tours to Hebron and South Hebron Hills, also aimed at non-Israeli audiences.

Breaking the Silence International Activities

Map of Activities