‘Breaking the Silence’ bill advances

Proposed legislation preventing extreme left-wing NGOs deemed to be acting against the IDF and delegitimizing Israel from accessing schools and students will move to a final vote in the Knesset plenum on Monday, after being approved in its final reading Tuesday in the Education Committee.

The “Breaking the Silence” law, proposed by MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi), states that organizations delegitimizing the State of Israel, acting against IDF soldiers and the objectives of the Israeli education system, will not be permitted to enter school premises or meet with students.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the bill was necessary because Breaking the Silence had crossed redlines of legitimate discourse and chose a path of lying and besmirching IDF soldiers on global stages.

“As long as Breaking the Silence operates against Israel and the IDF abroad, I will not let them operate in our education system,” he said. “The education system is in charge of crafting the future generations, and there is no reason for such voices to reach the pupils of Israel.”

Breaking the Silence responded that “closing the ears of students and the mouths of soldiers will not hide the occupation but give further testimony to how the occupation corrupts us.” The organization said that “even 1000 bills would not help” and vowed to continue to inform people about what is happening over the Green line until the occupation ends.

Likud MK Amir Ohana said Breaking the Silence had hurt Israel by persuading high school students not to serve in the IDF.

Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi said she found it odd that if the bill passed, it would be permissible to deny the existence of God, but not to deny the morality of the IDF.