person:yehuda shaul

  • Expanding the limits of Jewish sovereignty: A brief history of Israeli settlements - Israel News
    Gideon Levy and Alex Levac Jan 11, 2019 – Haaretz.com
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-expanding-the-limits-of-jewish-sovereignty-a-brief-history-of-isra

    At the end of the day, we stood above the ditch that holds the road designated for Palestinians who want to travel from an enclave of three West Bank villages – Biddu, Beit Surik and Qatannah – to Ramallah. Above that road, Israeli vehicles sped smoothly along Highway 443, the high road to the capital, without the drivers even seeing the segregation road below, which is hemmed in by iron fencing and barbed wire. The Israelis on the expressway above, the Palestinians on the subterranean route below: a picture that’s worth a thousand words. Israel dubs these separation routes “fabric-of-life roads.” It sounds promising but in reality these byways are just another, monstrous product of the apartheid system.

    A few hundred meters away, in Givon Hahadasha (New Givon) – and like the settlement, enclosed on all sides by iron fencing and spiky wire, and complete with electronic cameras and an electric gate – is the home of the Agrayeb family. Here the occupation looms at its most grotesque: a Palestinian family cut off from its village (Beit Ijza) in the quasi-prison of the enclave and left to live in this house-cage in the heart of a settlement, a situation that the High Court of Justice of the region’s sole democracy has termed acceptably “proportional harm.” At the conclusion of an instructive tour, the tunnel and the cage, Highway 443 and New Givon, the “proportional harm” and the “fabric-of-life roads” all spark grim, utterly depressing thoughts here in the realm of apartheid. The thoughts that arose in late afternoon on a cold, stormy winter day will long haunt us.

    Since the anti-occupation organization Breaking the Silence was founded in 2004, it has led hundreds of study tours to Hebron and to the South Hebron Hills, in which tens of thousands of Israelis and others have taken part. The tours, which draw about 5,000 participants a year, are aimed at the gut, and no one returns indifferent from the ghostly population-transfer quarter in Hebron or from the land of the caves whose inhabitants have been dispossessed, in the South Hebron Hills. Now the NGO is launching a new tour, analytical and insightful, of the central West Bank, which focuses on the history of the occupation from its inception down to our time.

    Yehuda Shaul, 36, one of the founders of Breaking the Silence, a former Haredi and an ex-combat soldier, worked for about a year and a half planning the tour, writing the texts and preparing the maps, drawing on some 40 books about the settlements and other materials found while burrowing in archives. Shaul is a superb guide along the trails of the occupation – businesslike and brimming with knowledge, not given to sloganizing. He is committed and determined but also bound by the facts, and he is articulate in Hebrew and English. His tour is currently in the pilot stage, before its official launch in a few months.

    A day in the Ramallah subdistrict, from the Haredi settlement of Modi’in Ilit to the home of the young Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, in the village of Nabi Saleh, from the region of the Allon Plan to the fabric-of-life scheme – during this seven-hour journey, an unvarnished picture emerges: The goals of the occupation were determined immediately after the 1967 war. Every Israeli government since, without exception, has worked to realize them. The aim: to prevent the establishment of any Palestinian entity between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, by carving up the West Bank and shattering it into shards of territory. The methods have varied, but the goal remains unwavering: eternal Israeli rule.

    #apartheid

  • Yaalon declares war on rights group Breaking the Silence
    Dec. 15, 2015
    https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769349

    BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday that he had banned Israeli veteran group Breaking the Silence from participating in any official activities with Israeli forces, Israeli media reported.

    Yaalon’s statement was made on social media, where he called the left-wing veteran group hypocrites spreading “false propaganda” against Israeli forces and the state of Israel in attempt to “delegitimize” them.

    Breaking the Silence responded to the comment on social media, saying the group has been under attack for the past several months, “through a pre-meditated campaign, in which members of the extreme right-wing, including Israeli parliamentarians and elected officials, along with public figures and right-wing organizations, are trying to silence both us and every debate related to the 48-year-long occupation.”

    • Le ministre de la Défense israélien s’en prend à une organisation de lanceurs d’alerte
      15 déc. 2015,
      https://francais.rt.com/international/12179-ministre-defense-israelien-d%C3%A9fend-armee

      Moshe Yaalon a estimé que l’organisation « Briser le silence » dégrade l’image d’Israël en publiant des témoignages d’anciens soldats qui dénoncent l’occupation de la Cisjordanie et les opération en Palestine.

      Fondé en 2004, le groupe rassemble et publie en effet les témoignages d’anciens soldats qui ont servi en Palestine ou dans les territoires occupés de Cisjordanie. Il révèle ainsi aux israéliens les abus commis contre la population palestinienne, ce qui est souvent difficile pour les médias, fournies en informations par des porte-paroles de l’armée.

      Moshe Yaalon entend donc lutter contre cette organisation et montrer le « prix moral » qu’Israël paie pour l’occupation. Selon lui, « Briser le silence » mène une politique de « propagande mensongère contre les soldats et les l’Etat, et contribue à délégitimer l’image du pays ».

      Surtout, pour Moshe Yaalon, les témoignages relatés par l’organisation « se sont plusieurs fois révélés sans fondement. Cette organisation agit pour des motifs malveillants, et nous devons donc nous engager totalement dans la lutte contre ce groupe. »

    • Il y a trois ans ils se sont attaqués à Btselem qui a survécu. Il faut soutenir « briser le silence » à tout prix. Sans eux nous ne saurons rien. Ils sont le seuls lien avec la vérité et la réalité de l’occupation israélienne en Palestine.

    • Un message de la FMEP ce soir à propos de cette affaire :

      Yesterday, the right-wing Israeli group Im Tirzu released an inflammatory and offensive video attacking four leading Israeli human rights activists as dangerous “foreign agents.” Among the activists targeted were Hagai El Ad, director of B’tselem, and Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence.

      In response to this attack, the Foundation for Middle East Peace strongly affirms its support for Hagai and Avner, for our grantee organizations Breaking the Silence and B’tselem, and for all of those who work toward the cause of human rights and peace in Israel and Palestine. FMEP’s support for these groups is based on shared values of democracy, equality, and tolerance. Hateful attacks like the one launched by Im Tirzu undermine those values. The activists named in the video represent the best of an open, democratic civil society, something of which all Israelis should be proud, just as we at FMEP are proud to share in the common work of advancing human rights in our societies.

      We call on other pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and pro-peace organizations in the U.S. to join us in standing in solidarity with our Israeli colleagues against the increasing atmosphere of incitement against Israeli human rights organizations.

      Sincerely,

      Matthew Duss

      President

      Foundation for Middle East Peace

    • La droite israélienne s’attaque à une association d’anciens soldats
      Par Cyrille Louis, Correspondant à Jérusalem | Mis à jour le 16/12/2015
      http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2015/12/16/01003-20151216ARTFIG00297-la-droite-israelienne-s-attaque-a-une-association

      De nombreuses voix pressent le gouvernement de légiférer contre l’ONG « Rompre le silence », dont les vétérans dévoilent, depuis bientôt douze ans, les coulisses de l’occupation en Cisjordanie.

    • Breaking the Silence: Why Take the Message Abroad?

      The left-wing NGO made up of former soldiers found itself at the center of a public storm and under ferocious attack from across the Israeli political spectrum.
      Ilan Lior Dec 18, 2015
      http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.692518

      “Why abroad?” was the most persistent question members of Breaking the Silence were asked this week in interviews, on social media, and in personal messages. The small NGO, more used to being sidelined, found itself at the center of a public storm and under ferocious attack.

      It was accused of slandering Israel around the world and of damaging its international image. The radical right-wing Im Tirtzu movement issued a video accusing the activists of being “moles” – agents for foreign states. That led to a spate of curses and threats on the lives of the NGO’s activists, all former Israel Defense Forces combatants.

      Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Breaking the Silence in the Knesset for “spreading libel about IDF soldiers in the world.” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon instructed the IDF not to cooperate with the NGO, whose motives he said were “malicious.” and “blackens our soldiers’ faces abroad.” Education Minister Naftali Bennett forbade the group to enter schools. Even Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid attacked the NGO from the opposition and said it “harms and sullies the IDF abroad, spreading lies about our combatants.”

      Breaking the Silence was set up 11 years ago by combatants who served in Hebron. They recounted their personal experiences from their service in the West Bank and started to gather testimonies from others about the violation of human rights under the occupation. Today, the organization has collected testimonies from more than 1,000 soldiers and has published them in the media, on the Internet, in booklets and at events and exhibitions.

      Today it employs 15 people, who all gave their own testimonies, as well as dozens of volunteers. The organization’s staff guide Hebrew and English tours in Hebron, take part in conferences, meet youth and students and hold demonstrations.

      Over the past year, NGO have members met senior White House officials for the first time. They also took part in events in the United States, Spain, The Netherlands and Scotland and held photo exhibitions in Switzerland. Amidst the storm raised by the group’s activity, the NGO’s founder, Yehuda Shaul gave a lecture in Denmark.

      A visitor takes a picture at the ’Breaking the Silence’ exhibition at the Kulturhaus Helferei in Zurich June 8, 2015.Reuters

      “The absolute majority – at least 85 percent – of the organization’s activity takes place in Israel, in Hebrew, or with Jews,” says director Yuli Novak in an interview with Haaretz. “We do a lot of work with Diaspora Jews, mainly in Israel, with youngsters who come in various groups and meet with us.”

      As for the activity overseas, “the occupation isn’t an internal Israeli matter,” says Novak, who served as an Air Force officer. “The Israeli occupation that we see as immense damaging to Israel, is maintained and supported abroad. Millions of dollars, mostly tax money, are invested in telling the world ‘if you’re for Israel you’re for the occupation.’”

      “We bring to this debate an Israeli, patriotic voice that says ‘we love Israel, but the occupation harms it.’ It’s critical that the world knows there are Israeli soldiers who think the state’s future depends on ending the occupation.”

      Achiya Schatz, a former combatant in the Duvdevan special operations unit, says, “People are silenced and gagged in Israel. Anyone who opposes the occupation is seen as a traitor.”

      “When the settlers’ Yesha Council speaks abroad how come nobody criticizes it? It’s sheer hypocrisy. The attempt to divert the debate to [our activity] abroad is government spin,” he says.

      The NGO’s critics say it strengthens the BDS. “We don’t support BDS, we never supported them or cooperated with them,” Schatz says.

      “Obviously Breaking the Silence statements raise objection. When you see the unpleasant sight in the mirror we put up, your first instinct is to look aside,” she says.

      But “Israel’s problem is the occupation. What makes Israel look bad is that for 48 years we’ve been ruling another nation and not showing any sign that we mean to change it – not soldiers telling what the occupation looks like,” she says.

      Novak says former combatants who have undergone special training in gathering information take the testimonies. Only those that are checked, cross-checked with others and verified are published. “No Breaking the Silence testimony has ever been refuted,” says Shatz.

      Novak refutes the claim that a Palestinian fund gave the NGO more than a million shekels to produce negative testimonies against the IDF. The fund, he says, works from Ramallah, but belongs to European states. “My work is not determined by the donors’ wishes,” he says. “The organization’s activity is entirely open and transparent.”

      The last few days have been especially difficult for the NGO’s people. Their email and Facebook accounts and mobile phones were filled with death threats and curses.

      “Some people fear for their life all the time. We all have families and they’re worried. It’s difficult, but the price of silence is too high,” says Shatz.

      On the upside, the number of supporters and people wanting to give testimony is also rising.

      “We’re in the company of the state’s president, Supreme court judges and other figures the right is trying to silence. So the attack isn’t only us, it’s dangerous to Israel. We’d expect our government and Knesset to stand by our side – not because they agre with us, but because democracy is crumbling,” she says.

  • ▶ FRANCE 24 The Interview - Yehuda Shaul, Co-founder, ’Breaking the Silence’ - YouTube

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXiMyQkCPfI#t=107

    It’s not easy being a whistleblower; least of all an Israeli soldier who decides to go public about his or her time serving in the Palestinian Territories. “Breaking the Silence” is an Israeli organisation that offers soldiers the opportunity to voice their testimonies. Its co-founder, Yehuda Shaul, talks to Annette Young about how they aim to expose the harsh realities of the Occupation to fellow Israelis.

    #breaking_the_silence