Attacks on Israeli soldier turned whistleblower get personal
JERUSALEM: A former Israeli combat officer turned whistleblower has found himself in the fight of his lifetime, leading a campaign against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and drawing relentless criticism from the country’s leaders who have labeled him a traitor.
For Dean Issacharoff, the battle is even more personal: His father is Israel’s ambassador to Germany, a respected longtime diplomat tasked with defending the same policies his son so adamantly opposes.
Issacharoff is the spokesman of Breaking the Silence, a group of former fighters who served in the West Bank and now collect testimonies about the damaging impact of the occupation. While the group says it is acting in Israel’s best interests by sparking a public debate, it has become perhaps the most reviled anti-occupation protest group in the country. The nationalist government sees it as foreignfunded subversives seeking to shame Israel by targeting its most hallowed institution, the military.
Amid a larger campaign to crack down on dovish advocacy groups that rely on donations from foreign governments, Breaking the Silence has drawn the most scorn for touching on a sensitive nerve. The government has responded by shunning foreign dignitaries who meet with its members and pushing for legislation to curb its funding.
“We are soldiers who have been there and seen what the occupation does. We have earned our right to speak,” said Yehuda Shaul, a cofounder of the group. “They are trying to intimidate people into not opening their mouths about the occupation.”
The current clamor around Breaking the Silence was sparked when Issacharoff, seeking to highlight the corrosive effect of his own service, publicly shared how he once kneed an unarmed Palestinian in the face until he was bloodied and dazed because he had resisted arrest. The confession sparked an inquiry that nationalist critics hoped would either find Issacharoff guilty or prove he was a liar.
After a swift investigation, the state prosecutor’s office announced last week it was closing the case because it deemed Issacharoff’s testimony to be false — a decision welcomed by hardliners long opposed to the group as vindication.
“Breaking the Silence lies and defames our soldiers around the world. Today we got more proof of that, if anyone had a doubt,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted after the announcement.
But since then, questions have arisen over the state’s investigation. The group says the probe was politically motivated and bungled from the start, with investigators interviewing the wrong Palestinian victim and refraining from questioning fellow soldiers who backed Issacharoff’s account. Issacharoff himself says he wants to be tried for his actions to highlight the moral price Israel is paying for its occupation of lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
“The right-wing government is afraid of the truth, and with good reason. Because if I take responsibility for my violence, they will have to take responsibility for sending us to serve in the territories,” he said in a video statement. “As long as there is occupation, there will be soldiers who break their silence. I know what I did and no political campaign will be able to change that. These hands beat a Palestinian in the territories. I am not proud of it but I won’t let you hide reality.”
On the advice of his attorney, Issacharoff declined to speak to The Associated Press.
In a heated television debate, deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called members of Breaking the Silence “liars” and “traitors,” and later instructed Israeli embassies in Europe to seize on Issacharoff’s case to press local governments to stop their funding of “an organization based on lies.”
That put his father, Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, in the uncomfortable position of having to denounce his own son. A nationalist advocacy group then launched a drive to have Jeremy Issacharoff fired because of his son.
The uproar prompted Issacharoff’s mother to plea with politicians to “stop using incendiary and hateful language” against soldiers who risked their lives for the country.
“Such words undermine any respectful public discussion and are inciteful,” she wrote on Facebook.
Hotovely later took a step back, calling Jeremy Issacharoff an “esteemed diplomat.”