New deputy foreign ministry Tzipi Hotovely is fighting back against Israel’s detractors who continuously seek to defame the IDF in the international arena by making false accusations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely declared war on the ultra-left-wing “Breaking the Silence” organization, which has an anti-IDF exhibit in Switzerland scheduled for next week.
“I ordered members of the [Foreign] Ministry to hold an urgent meeting to examine the courses of action we will take against the activities of Breaking the Silence in Switzerland,” the deputy minister announced on Tuesday.
Hotovely issued a similar demand to the Israeli embassy in Switzerland.
“We will not carry on with business as usual when an organization, whose entire purpose is to taint the image of IDF soldiers, operates in the international arena to cause heavy damage to the image of the state of Israel,” stated Hotovely. “The Foreign Ministry will continue its widespread activities against those who operate against Israel from within and without.”
IDF reservists peeved by the incriminating allegations are lauding Hotovely’s actions.
According to a Haaretz report, a senior official in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, Yigal Caspi, called the head of the Middle East and North Africa Division in Switzerland’s Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday to issue a formal complaint and request his government quit funding the NGO’s exhibition.
Seeking International Exposure, Evading Justice
Breaking the Silence is an anti-Israel, anti-IDF organization which alleges to expose anonymous “testimony” of former IDF soldiers who supposedly admitted to committing war crimes.
While claiming that their goal is to “raise awareness over the everyday reality of serving in the [socalled] 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.
Breaking the Silence members routinely go abroad to spread their allegations instead of taking their complaints directly to the IDF or civilian courts, and they are planning to open an exhibit in Zurich next week, which supposedly displays these damning testimonies.
The organization is funded extensively by foreign donors, including the European Union. The Swiss government and the Zurich municipality contributed heavily to fund next week’s event.
The organization’s claims against IDF soldiers have been debunked, and testimony given by named IDF soldiers who speak openly demonstrates that the IDF conducts itself in a considerate and humane fashion.
By: United with Israel Staff
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