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PortugueseJean-Daniel Ruch blamed Israelis for a member of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron attacking an Israeli boy.
By: JNS.org and United with Israel Staff
Switzerland’s ambassador to Israel issued a lukewarm apology to the Jewish community of Hebron on Friday two days after a Swiss man from a radical-left observer group slapped a 10-year-old Jewish boy from the city.
Footage showed a member of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) attacking the boy, who had approached the group as it took a tour organized by the controversial Breaking the Silence organization, which is critical of the IDF.
The man had entered the Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeida in contravention of TIPH’s mandate and sparked a confrontation with local residents when the assault occurred.
In response, Jean-Daniel Ruch, the Swiss ambassador to Israel, said he had “no doubt” that the “settlers” had conducted “some provocation,” but that “it is expected from our TIPH members that they keep their nerves in any circumstance” and that “the concerned Swiss individual is leaving the country today.”
TIPH, which maintains a presence in Hebron since 1997, says its mission is “to promote by their presence a feeling of security to the Palestinians of Hebron.”
Though 80 percent of the city is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, local Jewish residents have decried the organization’s practice of roaming through Hebron and videotaping the movements of soldiers and residents, interfering in IDF security operations and attempting to influence Israeli politics and policy.
Breaking the Silence, an anti-Israel organization is comprised of veteran IDF combatants who have served since the start of the Second Intifada and are ostensibly committed “to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.”
While claiming that their goal is to “raise awareness over the everyday reality of serving in the [so-called] occupied territories and to create a discussion about the cost of military control over a civilian population for so many years,” the NGO refuses to post the names of the soldiers who testify.
They have also refused to pass along their accounts to the IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Corps for investigation, despite repeated requests by senior IDF officials. Instead, Breaking the Silence members routinely go abroad to spread their allegations instead of taking their complaints directly to the IDF or civilian courts.
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