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Publication of Israeli Soldiers' Accounts Clouded by Political Agenda
(Sydney Morning Herald-Australia) Gerald Steinberg - The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence published anonymous allegations from Israel Defense Forces soldiers about the fighting in Gaza during summer 2014. Naming sources is a basic prerequisite for making legal claims, allowing accounts to be verified and witnesses to be questioned. Dates must be provided and locations cited to understand the broader context in which events were alleged to have taken place. Without this information, verification by competent authorities is impossible and we are left with a radical political agenda that exploits the language of international law. Many of the statements include very leading questions asked by interviewers, often constructed so as to elicit answers that falsely magnify the appearance of wrongdoing. In one instance, a soldier's statement carried the sensationalist header: "I really, really wanted to shoot her in the knees," but the text describes the young Israeli's fear that an approaching woman could potentially be carrying explosives that would kill him. IDF soldiers in Gaza have been targeted by suicide bombers, including women, making the fear of such an attack credible. The deceiving headline also hides the essential fact that the soldiers fired near her feet, scaring her off and successfully resolving the situation in a non-lethal manner. Breaking the Silence receives substantial funding from radical Europeans, who link their donations to the number of statements that are collected. The Dutch church organization ICCO demanded at least 90 incriminating interviews. Such arrangements highlight the clear financial interest in presenting as many negative testimonies as possible. The writer is president of NGO Monitor and professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University.