Cracks in the wall
Two news items were kept in the sidelines this week, one reviewing the IDF’s court case against Breaking the Silence and the other on severing the ties between B’tselem and the IDF. There is a strong connection between these two items, both in essence and in timing.
A few months ago the Ad Kan organization disclosed worrying findings about the activities of these two groups. The Ezra Nawi case, exposed by Channel 2’s Uvda documentary, showed how a B’tselem investigator was accused of planning the extradition of an Israeli land broker and Palestinian land owner to the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, in the apparently clear knowledge that they would face severe torture and death, mafia style.
Even more amazing than the story itself was B’tselem’s response, which totally supported the actions taken by its investigator. To a certain extent this response was even more critical than the investigation itself, and exposed the organization’s true goal; not the human rights of any Palestinians, but the promotion of their nationalistic aspirations.
Therefore, the claims that B’tselem raises today, that it is severing ties with the IDF as the army has not commented on the findings B’tselem presented, is not surprising to those in the know. B’tselem realized its true intentions have been exposed and prefers to work with those prepared to accept its material without proper examination, and without referring to the fact that it is not a human rights organization but an extreme political movement.
In recent months Ad Kan exposed perturbing information about Breaking the Silence, starting with the exposure of cash transfers to extreme left activists, continuing with Breaking the Silence’s criticism of Israel, led by none other than the former Foreign Ministry director general Alon Liel, and culminating in the exposure of photographs from testimonies taken from organization members, who disclosed the systematic collection of classified IDF material by the organization. In short, demonstrating that the group’s connection to human rights is incidental, at best.
Breaking the Silence claimed this week in court that exposing the identity of witnesses who claim that the IDF is committing severe war crimes, as required by the army, might cause the closure of the organization. And it’s right: exposing the witnesses will disclose the truth behind the events described in the organization’s documentation.
In any case, there can be only one irrefutable conclusion to be drawn from Breaking the Silence’s determined objection: it has no interest in improving the IDF or the values of its soldiers. Just like B’tselem, it has no interest in improving or rectifying Israeli society, and no concern for the human rights of any Palestinians. Its sole goal is to force an extreme political change on Israel from outside, through pressure from foreign governments and anti-Israeli organizations. It has great interest in fueling the pro-boycotting organizations with new material and claims that come from the Israeli public, so it will never cut ties with these movements.
Regarding their place in Israeli society, it has been a long time since we started seeing cracks in the wall of consensus from which these organizations benefited until today.
The author is chairman of Ad Kan.