Is Breaking the Silence going Beyond its Aims?

Israel’s TV Channel 2 has been airing accusations that Breaking the Silence, the left wing NGO has been going beyond its aims of exposing human rights abuses of Palestinians by the IDF. There are reports claiming that it is also divulging military security secrets.

Gilad Ach, director of the right-wing 'Ad Kan' organization, in the West Bank (screen capture: Channel 2/Uvda)

The problem is that Ad Kan, a right wing organization,is involved in vigilante activity funded by the settler movement. Ad Can infiltrated Breaking the Silence to spy on them is sinister and smells of intrigue for political gain of the right wing Israeli Government. If the Shin Bet that is non-political did this acting on suspicion that military secrets were being disclosed to countries or groups hostile to Israel (there are no shortage of them), then this is justifiable. If Breaking the Silence violated security laws by extracting secret military information from soldiers’ testimonies they must be held accountable and charged in a court of law. Extracting military secrets and getting testimony on human rights abuses are not connected. The latter is justifiable while the former is treachery and is against the law.

Israel is faced with many problems that other countries in the western world do not face. Palestinian terrorists infiltrate daily and stab innocent Israelis because of a whim - very often a personal, psychological issue or even a family problem. Their stabbing and ramming innocent people with vehicles are not even connected to the occupation issue. It is connected to hate for Jews that even spills over into stabbing Arabs, who resemble Jews. The hate propaganda of the Hamas and PA leadership is in no way constructive in solving the conflict. It just exacerbates it. The praise for Palestinian terrorists and declaring them shuhada (martyrs) encourages them on the social media to carry on with their murders of innocent people. Apart from periodic Islamic State attacks in Europe, what other country has the security problems and an implacable “partner for peace” that has closed the door for any form of dialogue? The “implacable partners” have no interest in peace - their interest is Israel’s total destruction by their own admission as well as the personal enrichment of its leaders. The hackneyed “occupation” mantra used so much by BDS and other hostile anti-Israel organizations that are also anti-Semitic who are allies of the potential “liberators of Palestine” such as Hamas, Daesh and Salafi Islamists, are being served by those who divulge Israel’s military secrets.

The work of Breaking the Silence in gaining testimony on human rights abuses should not be viewed as treacherous but viewed as a watchdog to prevent human rights abuse by the military against innocent Palestinians if this is done without compromising on Israel’s security. This function should be performed by the IDF that would render this NGO redundant. However, this is not the case at present. The IDF and Breaking the Silence should cooperate with each other and information gleaned by Breaking the Silence should be referred to the legal dept of the IDF before the dirty washing is hung out in the streets in order to denigrate Israel even further.

At this stage an investigation will be undertaken by the legal authority on the issue of divulging military secrets by Breaking the Silence. It is inexcusable that this NGO serves the interest of Israel’s enemies. Most of the enemies wish to see Israel’s destruction and its replacement by an Islamic State that is monolithic and insensitive to human rights is not an option nor is it justifiable on a moral basis.

Delegitimizing Israel Serves the Wealthy Palestinian Leadership

There is no doubt that the Palestinian pundits, who claim to espouse Palestinian rights and oppose the Israeli occupation, are feathering the nests of Hamas and their ilk. These wealthy savages do not care about the Palestinians. Their mantras of hate for Israel and support of killing Jews wherever they can is what these sanctimonious BDS pundits and communist-fascists support. The occupation is Israel’s existence and not only territories occupied in the June War of 1967. This has been made crystal clear by Hamas and the PA (in its agenda).  

The wealthy Hamas Lifestyle - Private Planes for "liberating Palestine"

Hamas, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and their terrorist allies are masters of deception, lies and fantasies. They know that the lies they spread on every world podium serves their interests financially. The Palestinians do not benefit at all. They live in absolute poverty and the brainwashing propaganda of racist and Islamic hatred for Jews is their lot, instead of money for improving their lives and infrastructure that includes education, health and social services to which they are entitled. The thuggish BDS movement, directed by pseudo-liberal sickos, is wallowing in their self-righteousness, lies and deception that Hamas and its racist allies spew into their pea-brains. They damage the Palestinian cause (whatever that may be) by denying them basic human rights in their support of Hamas. The Palestinian People deserve far better conditions than what their multi-millionaire Hamas buffoons in Qatar decide they deserve, if anything at all apart from hate and bloodshed, governed by their fantasies of destroying the “Zionist Entity”.

Another Hamas leader-turned-tycoon is Khaled Mashaal. “Estimates around the world are that Mashaal is currently worth $2.6 billion, but the numbers ...

Yes! It is the BDS movement that strengthens Hamas and motivates them to torture those, who oppose their cruel rule in Gaza and the enrichment of the PA, whose human rights record in the West Bank is no less dismal. The Hamas-PA Axis will never achieve an independent, democratic Palestinian State alongside Israel. Democracy does not exist in the Palestinian leadership. Human rights are a joke in the Middle East anyway. As far as Islam is concerned, democracy is the way of the infidel and will never be part of their agenda for an improved, humane society. Perhaps the US and EU still believe that under their parochial guidance, an independent,democratic,Palestinian State -  the Two-State Solution, will arise out of the shambles created by tribal disunity and bloodshed, as well as its desire to ethnically cleanse Israel of its Jews. The Palestinian, thuggish, leadership thrives on the poverty of the Palestinian People, claiming that the Israeli occupation is to blame for their misfortunes and tragedies. Every day that these thugs cry crocodile tears in the UN, their private bank balance enlarges.

BDS cries for them and it seems that other organizations like J Street is also falling into the trap of their lies and deception as well, while the Palestinian People suffer even more.

If ending the occupation in the West Bank is considered a moral and justified alternative, with the promise of an improved quality of life for the Palestinian People, including democracy and a human rights package, it deserves support. This unfortunately will not happen. At best, it will be a Palestinian State run by a dictatorial, despotic wealthy Islamic Hamas leadership that is quick to torture and murder opponents in cold blood in the streets after justice is meted out in their kangaroo courts. There is no “at worst”. “Best and worse” are synonymous in this case.  This is what the wackos of double standards - BDS and its allies wish to achieve. Daesh (ISIS) will also be waiting on the sidelines to take over from Hamas when the time is ripe, carrying on beheadings and raping every woman in sight. They will also take a bash at attacking Israel with Hamas support. Is this what these pseudo-liberal, Palestinian supporters wish to achieve? A Caliphate? Maybe this will be the alternative to the “occupation” (Israel’s very existence). We need to see what the Arab Spring has achieved in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and other tribal Arab States (except the mono-tribal Gulf States) and this will happen in a “free post-occupation Palestine”. This will be a BDS and its pundits’ dream!     

Related articles

• Kerry urges Palestinians, Israelis to ease tensions
• Palestine's deepening occupation
• BBC silent on PA rejection of direct negotiations
• PLO team slams ban on Israel boycott
• Palestinian Leaders: Who Are They Fooling? by Khaled Abu Toameh

BDS and Culture in Israel

When looking at the title of this article, a question that one is tempted to ask is: What is the connection?  BDS and culture have nothing to do with each other. If we examine this, we can see that BDS does affect culture freedom and democracy in Israel. How? One may ask.

Sports and Culture Minister Miri Regev

The new Israeli Coalition Government is now right wing,  if not more towards extreme right wing. The Likud Election Campaign played on the feelings of many apolitical citizens, who were not motivated to vote. PM Benjamin Netanyahu is an expert at fomenting fear of Israel's Arab citizens, when he felt that his Likud Party was going to lose. His perspiring face and tactics, bordering on racism towards Israel's Arab minority citizens, worked to his advantage at the last minute.

Israel today is being threatened by BDS groups in Europe, the US and many parts of the world. This has created a "siege" mentality within the government as well as amongst many Israelis. The BDS threat against Israel is not really anti-Semitic (BDS encompasses a heterogeneous range of groups, including many anti-Semites identifying with BDS and Palestinian terrorist groups, such as Hamas that climb on to the BDS bandwagon, irrespective of the government's settlement policies in the occupied territories, supporting the destruction of Israel), but against the occupation in the West Bank and the establishment of settlements there, whose legality in international law is questionable. BDS is a negative group that has nothing to contribute in any solution to this conflict. Much of the BDS propaganda is based on many hearsay falsities concerning Israel and does not deserve support.

The lack of progress in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas's leadership is part of the problem. There are many reasons for this which I have delved on in previous articles and will not go into that here. One reason that does stand out is the failure of Israel's leadership to freeze settlements and continues to build new settlements in the West Bank. This is the official reason for the BDS movement to threaten Israel. The Israeli Government has not shown any desire to negotiate a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict because they are not even prepared to raise the issue of settlements in the West Bank, even as a preliminary for trust-building measures between the two sides. The lack of movement towards a Two-State Solution is a potential danger to peace. The instability in the Middle East with ISIS, Jabat al Nusra and a host of other Islamist terrorist groups, complicates the issue even further. The Israeli Government must be viewed as partly to blame for the strengthening of BDS movements against Israel because of their lack of vision in moving forward towards a solution of the impasse that exists. So the negotiations will be tough but at least there could be some hope in allowing the ball to fall into the Palestinian court if Israel gave some hint of concessions, even if the Palestinian negotiators view them with distrust.

How does this affect Israel's democracy? The government has developed a "siege" mentality because of the very complicated and hostile environment with its players surrounding Israel. Anybody in Israel, who does not agree with government policy and is viewed as left-wing, has the mark of Cain. Peacemakers are viewed as traitors to the siege mentality of the right wing government.  Dissent to government policy is not encouraged and is often viewed as a threat to national interests. This is a threat to democracy in Israel.

This threat seeps down to cultural activities as well. The Minister of Culture and Sport, Miri Regev and the Minister of Education, Naftali Bennett, are well known for their right wing views. They have formed a cartel  refusing to subsidize cultural activities that are not in accordance with their respective party ideology. The taxpayer's money goes to the Culture and Sport Ministry that should be non-political. After all, not all Israel's taxpayers are right wing supporters. The Regev-Bennett cartel claims that the voters have given them their support and this allows them to adopt their party line as well as their own criteria for subsidizing cultural activities. These two "paragons of culture" have made decisions on hearsay and not from being present at theatre performances of plays that they view as being anti-Israel. They have appointed themselves as the watchdogs of culture in Israel. They even decide that actors who do not wish to perform in settlements that are in the West Bank will not receive subsidies for the theatre groups to which they belong.  

The "siege" mentality of the government is a threat to Israel's democracy. This pathetic, self-righteous government is digging a trench and pulling its supporters into it out of fear.

Soon Israeli culture will be narrowed to the confines of non-controversial cultural projects in theatre, TV, literature, art and poetry. It will come as no surprise, if the government coalition will pass bills ensuring their criteria for subsidizing cultural activities. All this because of fear of open mindedness, even if it does not dovetail with their ruling, right wing ideology.

Israel will be subjected to censorship in cultural activities if this trend continues.