Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence is an NGO that libels Israel’s reputation with anonymous tales of IDF wrongdoing. BtS hides behind anonymity rather than report alleged military misconduct to proper authorities, and some of the stories they’ve published have later been proven to be false.
The short film “Mission: Hebron” portrays Israel’s military presence in the city as inherently evil, meant to uphold an equally evil foreign implant of Jews (referred to as “settlers”) in a “Palestinian city.” The film is the first feature in the New York Times’ Op-Docs series.
The protagonists/interviewees are current and former employees and activists of Breaking the Silence, an NGO that libels Israel’s reputation with anonymous tales of IDF wrongdoing. BtS hides behind anonymity rather than report alleged military misconduct to proper authorities.
BtS admits its goal is “not to improve” the Israeli military “or make it more humane” but “to end the occupation” of disputed territory that it considers Palestinian, promoting the idea that “supporting Israel entails supporting the occupation and settlements.”
Even fact-checking investigations by sympathetic journalists have revealed many or most BtS claims to be entirely false or grossly exaggerated.
Photo Credit: Screenshot from IMDb
The Film’s Framework
The film portrays Hebron as a Palestinian city in which Jewish “settlers” have established themselves with the Israeli government’s help. Its message is that Israel’s military maintains direct control of a central area of Hebron, where soldiers — in cahoots with “settlers” brutalize and threaten Palestinians to exert power.
Photo Credit: Screenshot, Mission Hebron (trailer), Other Israel Film Festival (Youtube)
Broad generalities litter the film’s dialogue. It claims that Israel’s army “sterilizes” areas of Hebron from Palestinians, soldiers randomly target hapless Palestinians for stop, search, and frisk just to intimidate them, and soldiers enter Palestinian homes in the middle of the night to turn everything upside down, with no clue what they’re searching for.
The testimonies become more far-fetched as the film goes on. Settlers offer soldiers pizza for shooting Palestinians, soldiers “kick out all Palestinians” from the commercial area to accommodate “settler events,” “closing all of [their] stores” to deprive them of their livelihoods, and settler children and adults alike curse, spit at, and attack Palestinians.
While it’s impossible to rule out specific incidents of wrongdoing, it strains credibility to think these are routine as testimonies suggest.
In order to keep their tales of Israeli abuses alive, BtS and the film must conceal the essential facts and historical context about the military presence and Jewish community in Hebron.
Photo Credit: Screenshot, Mission Hebron (trailer), Other Israel Film Festival (Youtube)
What is Concealed?
Hebron holds the world’s oldest Jewish community and is Judaism’s second holiest city, referred to dozens of times in the Hebrew Bible. With few pauses, Jews have lived there since biblical times.
In 1929, Arab mobs brutally massacred their Jewish neighbors, ending Hebron’s longstanding Jewish presence. (It is included but downplayed in the film.) A five-year attempt to rebuild this community ended when British authorities evacuated Jews and didn’t allow them to return to their homes. The Jordanians occupied Hebron in 1948 and barred Jews from living there and praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs.
Jews finally restarted a community in their holy city when Hebron came under Israel’s control in 1968.
Israeli soldiers and Jewish visitors who go to the Cave of the Patriarchs are frequently subject to violent and deadly anti-Jewish attacks by Arabs/Palestinians. Anti-Jewish violence by Palestinians is concealed in the film.
Jews are confined to <20% of Hebron, while Palestinians have access to the whole city. In January 1997, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ceded control of more than 80% of Hebron to the Palestinians under the leadership of PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat.
CAMERA on CAMPUS
BtS and the New York Times care little about history or the significance of Hebron to Jews. Their propaganda promotes stripping the city of its Jewish legacy and history through the demonization and delegitimization of Hebron’s Jewish residents, and the soldiers who ensure the holy site and area are equitably shared.
SOURCE:
The New York Times, Breaking the Silence and a Film About Hebron
It is no wonder the New York Times\’ recent Op-Doc (op- ed documentary film) about Israel was a biased Breaking…
CAMERA/rickih
Breaking the Silence
BtS is a largely European-funded Israeli NGO devoted to demonizing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with false allegations of “war crimes.”
What Is Its Mission?
BtS was ostensibly established “to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the ‘Occupied Territories'” and to “demand accountability regarding Israel’s military actions.”
How Does BtS Operate?
BtS allegations against the IDF mainly consist of unverifiable and anonymous “testimonies” by a small and fringe group of IDF veterans. Their testimonies are mostly based on vague memories, feelings, hearsay, or rumors.
Who Is Bts’ Audience?
BtS claims to address Israeli society; however, they mainly share their stories in the US and Europe.
Is BtS Credible?
BtS accusers refuse to air their charges to the authorities, despite the IDF’s call to provide specifics in order to follow up with investigations. Shrouded in anonymity, BtS accusers choose to withhold the details and the identities of those allegedly involved in their stories.
According to CAMERA Senior Media Analyst Ricki Hollander, “… [BtS’] ‘testimony’ is best described in Hebrew as “Lashon Hara” – spiteful gossip and slander. Fact-checking investigations by even sympathetic journalists have shown that many or most BtS claims are either entirely false or grossly exaggerated…. Responsible journalists would therefore be well-advised therefore to accept tales by BtS ‘witnesses’ with the utmost of
BtS wraps itself in the mantle of “human rights” but offers neither evidence for its accusations nor solutions to the problems it alleges exist in the IDF. According to its co-founder Michael Manekin, the motivation for publicly testifying against Israel is its “political significance.”
Leading members of BtS’s board of directors, including Chairman Miki Kratsman, have advocated for boycott and international sanctions against Israel.
SOURCES:
breakingthesilence.org.il/pdf/Protective Edge.pdf
camera.org/article/breaking-the-silence-gets-failing- grade-in-channel-10-s-fact-check
camera-uk.org/2016/01/18/israeli-reservists-break-their- silence-over-the-lies-of-breaking-the-silence/
camera-uk.org/2015/05/15/the-latest-breaking-the- silence-report-isnt-journalism-its-propaganda/
camera.org/article/the-new-york-times-breaking-the- silence-and-a-film-about-hebron/