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Checks should be made out to “Breaking the Silence” and sent to:
POB 51027
6713206 Tel Aviv
“Breaking the Silence”
Account number 340211, Branch 567 at Hapoalim Bank
SWIFT: POALILIT
IBAN:
IL310125670000000340211
US tax deductible donations can be made through the website of the New Israel Fund.
For tax deductible donations from Europe please contact info@breakingthesilence.org.il
Checks should be made out to “Breaking the Silence” and sent to:
POB 51027
6713206 Tel Aviv
“Breaking the Silence”
Account number 340211, Branch 567 at Hapoalim Bank
SWIFT: POALILIT
IBAN:
IL310125670000000340211
US tax deductible donations can be made through the website of the New Israel Fund.
For tax deductible donations from Europe please contact info@breakingthesilence.org.il
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Over a decade ago, I recounted this to the organization Breaking the Silence: "Zhabo is taking measurements, looking, taking pictures … We realize that more and more people are coming. We're three jeeps. We were maybe 10 soldiers there, and all of a sudden, from outside the mosque, there are some 150 Palestinians … within a second, starting to stone our jeeps … battering the jeeps ... and we had to flee."
In 2014, the IDF’s acceptable civilian casualty ratio was one civilian for a high-level terrorist, said Tal Mimran, a former legal adviser to the IDF. In the Gaza war, the number has grown to about 15 civilians for one low-level Hamas member and “exponentially higher” for mid- and high-level members,” according to the Israeli human rights organization Breaking the Silence, citing numerous testimonies from IDF soldiers. The New York Times reported the number as 20 earlier this week.
The Times reviewed dozens of military records and interviewed more than 100 soldiers and officials, including more than 25 people who helped vet, approve or strike targets. Collectively, their accounts provide an unparalleled understanding of how Israel mounted one of the deadliest air wars of this century. Most of the soldiers and officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were barred from speaking publicly on a subject of such sensitivity. The Times verified the military orders with officers familiar with their content.
“It’s a Gazafication of the northern part of the West Bank,” said Nadav Weiman, the director of Breaking the Silence, an advocacy group made up of former Israeli soldiers who say they are collecting testimonies from soldiers who took part in the raids in Jenin and another city, Tulkarm.
The soldier said that he and his comrades refused to carry on with the practice after two days and confronted their senior commander about it. Their commander, who first told them not to “think about international law,” saying that their own lives were “more important,” ultimately relented, releasing the two Palestinians, the soldier said. The fact that they were released, he said, made it clear to him that they had no affiliation with Hamas, “that they are not terrorists.” CNN was connected with the soldier by Breaking the Silence, an organization that provides a forum for Israeli soldiers to speak out and verifies their testimony.
The soldiers who spoke to The Times said they began using the practice during the current war because of a desire to limit the risks to infantry. Some of the soldiers who saw or participated in the practice found it deeply troubling, prompting them to take the risk of discussing a military secret with a journalist. Two were connected to The Times by Breaking the Silence, an independent watchdog that gathers testimony from Israeli soldiers.
Using stealthy bureaucratic measures, Israel has transformed the nature of governance in the West Bank, taking it from a military occupation with obligations towards the occupied population under international law to a system in which Israeli civilian government institutions, carrying a duty of loyalty to Israelis, run most aspects of Palestinian life in the West Bank. Under Minister Bezalel Smotrich, adherents to the settler ideology have been given greater control over the West Bank and, in practice, the power to implement their ideological agenda.
Breaking the Silence says its research shows the use of human shields is not limited to a few isolated incidents or a commander acting on a whim. “The testimonies make it clear that it’s both systemic and systematic to how the IDF is fighting in Gaza,” a recent statement said.
There were soldiers who protested at the sight of the new "dogs," several brave ones even gave testimony to Breaking the Silence. But the procedure, which was once specifically forbidden by the High Court of Justice, has been adopted on a broad scope in the army. The next time that the public protests the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu ignores High Court rulings, we should remember that the army also brazenly ignores its rulings.
"At each stop on the tour, repeated themes and patterns came up; settler violence as a systemic issue, eviction and demolition orders based on...
Actually there’s no theoretical rationale behind it. In fact we don’t...
Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: Nahal, 50th Battalion
Area: Nablus area
There, I remember, it was settler kids between the ages of 6 to 8. A group...
Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: Nachal Special Forces
Area: Hebron
when you suddenly look at it, even zooming out, at the whole Samaria area,...
Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: Nahal, 50th Battalion
Area: Nablus area
When you say to a soldier, ‘let’s enter a house just to get to know...
Rank: Captain
Area: Hebron