The Silence Is Broken

It is hard to find positives in Gaza or the occupied territories. Even viewed from the outside, the relentless brutalization of the people in Palestine, at the hands of the Israeli military machine, is a thoroughly distressing situation. But for those living under occupation, it is an ongoing nightmare, from which there is scarcely any relief.

One of the most disheartening factors, in recent years, has been the apparent absence of serious debate among Israelis about the crushing military policies pursued by successive Governments. We know that there is opposition within Israel to the inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians. We know that there is a peace movement. But, to date, those who question the status quo have been completely overwhelmed by the hawks.
Perhaps, however, that might be beginning to change. And the unlikely source of change? A group of Israeli army veterans, who have served in the occupied territories – and who have now chosen to speak out.
Yehuda Shaul is one of the founding members of Breaking The Silence – the name itself a comment on the extent to which dissent has been forced underground in Israel. Yehuda’s family settled in Israel in the 1970s; his father is American and his mother Canadian. They are politically right-wing and he was raised as an ultra-orthodox Jew. He is not what you might call a natural-born radical.
“I joined the draft in March 2001 and served until March 2004,” Yehuda recounts. “I served as a combat soldier, as a commander and a company Sargeant. Throughout my service I did what soldiers do, manning check points, house demolitions, arrest operations, patrols.”
If he had doubts about the morality of what he was doing, as a soldier the pressures of service inevitably took precedence. “There is always something bigger than you to think about,” he reflects. “There is war, the missions you are about to undertake – and most of all the sense of comradeship you share with your fellow soldiers.”
His inner doubts flared when he became commander of his unit. He was aware of the potentially destructive effect if those under his command were to begin thinking for themselves. “In the military that is not how you want things to happen,” he says simply.
But as he came towards the end of his service, it became impossible to silence the voices in his head.
“I started to think about things, about my life and what I wanted to do. It was the first time in a long time that I started to think like a civilian and not a professional combat soldier,” he explains. “This was when the penny dropped. You take one step out and you observe. It was a very terrifying moment because when you stop thinking as a combat soldier, you lose verification for 95 percent of your actions. Suddenly my way of justifying myself didn’t make any sense.”
He could give back his uniform – but he couldn’t hand in the things that he had done as a soldier. They would stay with him forever. He felt guilty.
“This strong sense that I had done something wrong made me feel I had to do something about it,” he says. “The only thing I had was my comrades around me, so I started talking to them and very fast I discovered that we all felt the same. This is how Breaking The Silence was born.”
They collected stories and mounted an exhibition based on their experiences in Hebron. Other veterans from Gaza and Nablus made contact. They had similar stories to tell, all of which pointed in the one direction. “What,” they asked collectively, “is the moral price tag attached to the occupation?” Breaking The Silence does not say: ‘End the occupation’. But it does point out, Yehuda insists, that there is no moral way to conduct an occupation.
“What we are trying to do is force Israeli society to confront a mirror of its own,” Yehuda says. “We are trying to hold a mirror up to society and force a public debate about sending the military to control civilians under military law for so long and to bring up the question: as a society, what is the moral red line, what are our boundaries? To what extent do we stand behind our military – or when do we say: ‘No, not in our name’.”
They are beginning to make an impression. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the group, and in a briefing to reporters who accompanied him on a recent trip to Europe, said that he expects all European governments to cease aid to groups of this kind – surely a good sign.
Yehuda is reluctant to be too specific about what the soldiers were ordered to do that they are rebelling against. Breaking The Silence does not have a political position. It does not have a manifesto. Rather, it reflects the different experiences of those who have chosen to speak, some of whom are still serving members of the Israeli Army.
Since the group was formed in 2004, 700 soldiers have spoken out, the number growing particularly since the 2009 attack on Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead. Breaking The Silence commissioned a report: in it, unnamed Israel Defence Force (a euphemism for Army) soldiers alleged that Palestinians were used as ‘human shields’ during the operation.
Even committed Israeli soldiers were shocked at what was being done in Gaza.
“They spoke to us because they were against specific tactics, specific missions, specific orders they received,” Yehuda says.
“This work we did in Gaza was not work we had done before: we were sitting in our office watching the attack on Israeli TV and something in our gut as combat soldiers told us: ‘This time it’s different’. This is an operation we had not seen before. When we started talking to solders after the attack, we did not believe them: they were talking about a different military, a different IDF, not the military I knew from my experience.”
Yehuda believes that Israeli citizens must face the facts about occupation. About this, he is unequivocal.
“All that you read in that book is inherent to the reality of occupation: there is no other way to do it. Because I don’t believe you can be a soldier in the occupied territories and enforce discrimination, while still saying people are equal to you. Because all the idea behind what you enforce is that people are not equal to you.
“If we are there,” he concludes, “we are doomed to do all the abuses that you find in the book of Breaking The Silence and there is no way to change it.”
What’s important is that Yehuda and his comrades speak with the voice of authority. They laid their lives on the line for Israel. Now that they are speaking out, others may take heed. It is a seed.
From it, a greater movement for peace may grow within Israel. And in that there is just a glimmer of hope for those suffering oppression in the occupied territories…
Nurture it.