European organizations that donated funds to “Breaking the Silence” made several conditions, Israel’s Channel 1 News reported Monday. One Dutch organization demanded Breaking the Silence provide at least 90 testimonies of IDF soldiers and to publish what was described as “The Occupation Encyclopedia.” This week, according to the same report, the EU promised Breaking the Silence a quarter of a million euro for educational activity within Israel’s society regarding human rights violations in Judea and Samaria. Breaking the Silence said in response that they have more than enough testimonies on file to satisfy the Europeans’ requirements.
Major General (retired) Jacob Amidror, former head of the National Security Council, told Israel Hayom on Tuesday that Breaking the Silence works against Israel abroad, and does not allow the IDF to examine complaints of misconduct. Amidror said, “If Breaking the Silence were to form a mechanism to communicate with the IDF, enabling soldiers to complain from outside the system, because sometimes soldiers are afraid to complain through the system, that would have been one thing. The problem here is that instead of passing the testimonies to the IDF, they pass them out to the world at large, and there is no way of checking what they’re saying.”
Amidror added that “they are doing harm to the state without bringing any benefit. If they’d just been breaking the silence, I wouldn’t have any problem with them. The problem is not of breaking the silence but of defamation.” Amidror added that “the fact that some of the money to finance the organization flows through a Palestinian center in Ramallah, means that there is no possibility the provider of funds would not impact the message, directly or indirectly.”
Yeesh Atid Chairman MK Yair Lapid, on Sunday appeared in a joint press conference with reserve officers and soldiers in which they declared that they would continue to act against the activities of Breaking the Silence, which denigrate IDF soldiers and commanders in the world. During the press conference Lapid said he plans to sponsor legislation aimed at preventing BDS organizations from funding Israeli non-profit organizations that help slander Israel.