Breaking the Silence

Breaking the Silence is an Israeli veterans' organization aimed at raising awareness to the dire consequences of prolonged military occupation.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

@weimanadav, our executive director spoke with @Channel4News about the IDF ordering criminal probes into the killing of Hind Rajab and medical workers in Gaza strikes: "The rules of engagement need to be investigated [not isolated cases], but they're not going to be investigated.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

An extremely important angle by Dr @FerozeSidhwa

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

“Doctors are actually supposed to bear witness to crimes and are supposed to report them when they see them.” Dr @FerozeSidhwa tells me about his time working in Gaza, what he witnessed, and why he and colleagues are speaking out.

“International journalists are barred and Palestinian journalists are often ignored. So we were the only ones left.”

Their experiences are seen in the new documentary American Doctor.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Read the full testimony: https://t.co/gk6NlfNZzO

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

The IDF has reopened two cases involving “breaches of protocol.” But it is the protocols themselves that need investigating. According to many of the testimonies we’ve collected, the rules of engagement in Gaza basically amount to “yes.” Here's one:

“Inside Gaza, the open-fire regulations are a free-for-all. Any movement that doesn’t clearly come from the direction of our forces is automatically treated as the enemy. No one is supposed to come near us, and no one is supposed to be here.”
https://t.co/1VLI5lSGBj

[Daniel Seidemann @DanielSeidemann]

Breaking and important: E-1 is happening.

As we feared and expected, the tender documents for large part of E-1. The Israel Lands Authority has split the plan, providing for 1,234 residential units in the southern part of E-1. The documents for the remaining 2,167 units will be posted at some future.

Lest there be any doubt, these units alone have the same devastating impact as the whole plan.

The closing date for bidding is October 19, a few days before the October 27 elections.

This is a highly significant development.
The clock has started ticking. When the bids are opened on October 19, E-1 will be a done deal. We are at the point of no return.

It is highly unlikely that Netanyahu will be attentive to international pressure. (Maybe Trump can be convinced that this move is tantamount to annexation, defying his wishes).

Friends in Europe, if you are serious you cannot let this come to pass.

It's time to walk the walk.

[Israel Exposed @xIsraelExposedx]

"What we created there is like a mousetrap, sort of a human trap."

- Israeli Army captain, northern Gaza, in testimony to the Israeli veterans' group @BtSIsrael

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Find more testimonies from soldiers who have served in the occupied Palestinian territories on our website. Since 2004, we have collected, verified, and published thousands of testimonies.

https://t.co/isPKITC0WV

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

In Hebron, Palestinians are forced to pass through checkpoints simply to move between many of the city’s neighbourhoods. The way the IDF enforces these draconian movement restrictions is often deeply humiliating. Read this soldier’s testimony:

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

The kids see everything, always. People are delayed for hours. We get on the two-way radio, run his ID [number] through, he could stay there for two hours at least.”

[Yehuda Shaul @YehudaShaul]

Settlers increase their attempts to shrink Palestinian enclaves, further fragmenting Palestinian territory.
In the South Hebron Hills, they’re pushing for a new road to connect Susiya and Otniel via Area A, cutting between Yatta and as-Samu.
See the illustration on the map below.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

"Vaikka puhutaan siirtokuntalais­väkivallasta, kyse on valtion tukemasta ja rahoittamasta toiminnasta". Poliisi, Israelin sisäinen turvallisuuspalvelu ja Israelin armeija toimivat käytännössä yhdessä.

Varajohtajamme @eitanrom HS:n haastattelussa.

https://t.co/dmOgFwJqJy

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

If you missed this tour, you can always register for one of our upcoming ones, we run them regularly. This Friday, we’re heading to Hebron for our next tour, and there’s still time to join!

Registration: https://t.co/z6aFyEnkCB

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

These great people decided to spend their Thursday with us on last week’s tour of the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta), seeing the occupation with their own eyes, hearing from soldiers who once enforced it, and meeting Palestinian activists who continue to resist and sustain a powerful network of solidarity despite decades of state-sanctioned violence and dispossession.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

This Friday, August 21 📍 It’s still not too late to register for our tour in Hebron, see what the occupation really looks like, and hear what it means both to enforce it and to live under it.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Come and see occupied Hebron with your own eyes. Join us on our tour, August 19.

Hebron is the second-largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, with settlements built both around the city and within its centre.

On our tours, we bring Israelis and internationals to Hebron to see the occupation firsthand and meet Palestinian activists resisting the occupation. Hebron is both typical and unique. It is typical because, like elsewhere in the West Bank, the lives of more than 235,000 Palestinians are shaped by a repressive military system that deprives them of basic rights. It is unique because nowhere else is that system so concentrated and visible.

As former IDF soldiers, we carried out the occupation ourselves. Drawing on our own experiences, we explain how this system works, what it looks like in everyday life, and why we believe it is deeply immoral and makes no one living between the river and the sea safer.

Most Israelis and internationals have never visited Hebron. Seeing these places with your own eyes offers a perspective that is difficult to gain from news reports or social media alone.

Registration:
https://t.co/sjK1xEKung

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Reported by @MatanGolanPhoto:

https://t.co/zak6LSKLT5

[Matan Golan @MatanGolanPhoto]

איך עדיין יש מתנחלים בראש ההר בקוסרה?

יום חמישי למבצע פינוי המאחזים ממרחב קוסרה-ג׳אלוד ואכיפת צו השטח הצבאי הסגור.

מתנחלים מתקרבים- חיילים ניגשים אליהם ולוחצים את ידם.

אחרי מספר דקות המתנחלים התרחקו תוך מחוות יד למשפחות.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

Perfect illustration of the IDF’s role in the siege in Qusra. The IDF doesn’t stop settlers from besieging Palestinian families. Soldiers amiably shake hands with them. Those the IDF stops are journalists and medics. The IDF carries out the siege.