Breaking the Silence Exhibit: The Combatant’s Story

Erika is a member of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, our undergraduate hosts at Harvard. She shares with us here why she is personally thankful for the soldiers’ work and presence in Israel and the States:
“As someone who went to the West Bank this summer and lived in Israel, I was really glad because for it actually re-humanized Israeli soldiers in a way that I had lost, having to go in and out of the West Bank every day, after being very bitter about the way I was treated as well as Palestinianss. After going through this exhibit, it was really interesting to see what institutionalized occupation does to normal human beings in that their not in and of themselves bad people…it definitely allowed me to humanize the people involved in it.”

Disclaimer: The opinions shown here do not represent the views of Shovrim Shtika/Breaking the Silence or that of its speakers. The opinions here belong to the individuals who voluntarily contributed these video clips.

This participant from Philadelphia made some powerful connections between Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and America’s occupation of Iraq, at least as far as the effects upon soldiers and civilians.

Breaking the Silence makes no statement about any political connections between Israel and Iraq, but certainly the lessons about what happens in the relationships between occupier and occupied are instructive for all Americans to hear.

Disclaimer: The opinions shown here do not represent the views of Shovrim Shtika/Breaking the Silence or that of its speakers. The opinions here belong to the individuals who voluntarily contributed these video clips.

David is a Harvard undergrad raised in an American Reform Jewish tradition of what he calls “cautious Zionism.” Coincidentally he’s the age of soldiers who serve at checkpoints and elsewhere in the occupation. Keep that in mind as he reflects on what the exhibit has shown him:
“Particularly I thought the quotations from soldiers talking about the way participating in the occupation sort of was a constant source for them to have to recheck their own humanity and morality and it added a dimension to how Israel and its army are carrying out the occupation. Particularly how young people are aware of their own compromised position…They are struggling with the moral ambigiuty just as much as we as outside observers struggle with those issues too.”

Disclaimer: The opinions shown here do not represent the views of Shovrim Shtika/Breaking the Silence or that of its speakers. The opinions here belong to the individuals who voluntarily contributed these video clips.

We’re asked from both the right and the left about the silence we’re breaking. The right of course complains that everyone knows about cases of abuse; our work is unnecessary. The left complains that this coverage doesn’t get enough attention. Both demand to know why Israelis don’t address the issue more if the whole society serves in the military.

Over at Magnes Zionist, an Israeli explanation of why this can be true:

First, soldiers have the attitude that what happens in the West Bank stays in the West Bank. They don’t come home and talk to their families and friends about things they are ashamed of — if indeed they are ashamed of it. Most soldiers do what they are told to do and don’t pause to consider what they are doing when they are doing it. By the time they leave the army and have time to think on their experiences, they are smoking grass in India, or trekking in South America, and trying to move on with their lives.

Second, much of what is considered human rights abuse falls under the category of “necessary, if regrettable, deterrence.” There are operational reasons why soldiers, like police officers, have to infringe upon human rights. I am not saying that these are extreme cases, but it is difficult to draw the line between what is militarily necessary or not, and that line is not drawn by you. So you don’t even realize that some of what you are doing is abuse.

Third, soldiers get desensitized quickly. The first time they are asked to abuse civilians, some are shocked. But after repetition, and when boredom sets in, they need to up the ante.

Fourth, some human rights infringement are deemed militarily necessary. So if you want to be a good soldier, you have to obey orders and follow procedures, even if that means that a pregnant women will die in childbirth at a roadblock. You are then told that these things are unfortunate, but without that roadbock, Jews may die. Etc.

A soldier testifies to all the above in this one testimony taken from the archive:

I did not think. In the army I never thought. And I used to come home and tell about it to my friends, which means I was not ashamed of it. Nothing. I did what I was told to do. And besides, everybody did it. That was the custom - officers and such, everybody knew. It never happened that they had told me to shoot here or there… and I would stop to think ‘what if’… First I took the shot; later, if I thought at all, it would always be too late. I never thought while I was doing that.

Read more testimonials online here, download the booklets here, or visit the exhibit for a full tour — we’re open at the Harvard Hillel through Sunday, March 16th.

Josh is Jewish and from Philadelphia. He says quite simply: “[Our exhibit guide Arnon Degani] really brought home the moral dilemma or moral decay that occurs as a result of the occupation in a powerful way.”

Disclaimer: The opinions shown here do not represent the views of Shovrim Shtika/Breaking the Silence or that of its speakers. The opinions here belong to the individuals who voluntarily contributed these video clips.

Carol saw the exhibit in Philadelphia. Here she describes how everybody is a victim of conflict. In her own words: “These poor, very innocent young soldiers who look just like us. They have no idea of what they’re capable of, that they can be a victim.”

A spate of great blog and articles out there are really helping explain the power of this exhibit to humanize Israelis in the minds of Jews and non-Jews alike. We’ve mentioned Zehra’s excellent post on the Harvard International Review, but here are a few others:
The exhibit makes a good impression on the Harvard Democrats:

But I was surprised at how even the exhibit was. The soldiers represented are seen as normal people - they are frightened kids charged, in at atmosphere of fear, with the protection of a state. They are told to be frightened of everyone - guilty until proven innocent. It is no wonder that they are not nice and cuddly with the occupied people…

I think that the result of this exhibit is just to help us realize that this world is not black and white - what we may get lulled into thinking is “good v. evil” is actually a complex and human conflict, not something easily condensed into a children’s story.

Our article in The Nation also ran on Middle East Online:

When I asked why they’d gone to such lengths to bring their exhibit to America, both Shaul and Degani said they want Israel’s biggest supporters to realize that, as in Iraq, abuses in the occupied territories don’t occur because of “a few bad apples.”

To underscore the point, Degani motioned me toward the final set of photos in the exhibit, a wall covered with portraits of soldiers who’d engaged in the acts the other panels document. There was not a trace of menace in their faces, which glowed with youthful idealism. “They are poster-children for the army,” Degani said, his eyes downcast, “but they are caught up in a horrible reality.”

Trudy Rubin, nationally syndicated columnist, covered us in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

I ask the obvious questions. Do you feel you are undermining Israel’s safety? “You could say that, if you subtract some things from a democracy, it would be safer,” Shaul replies. “I prefer a [real] democracy. You have to set red lines. There are some things you just do not do.”

The Harvard Crimson follows up on its earlier story with another article about the internal Jewish controversies around hosting the exhibit in Harvard Hillel:

“By hosting this exhibit, Harvard Hillel only promotes enmity and hatred towards Israel and gives legitimacy to these sentiments by stamping its approval on the biased, distorted collage of pictures,” said [Zionist Organization of America president Mort] Klein.

But Franklin M. Fisher—an MIT economics professor and chair of Americans for Peace Now, which advocates for peace in the Middle East and sponsors “Breaking the Silence”—said he disagreed with Klein’s view. Fisher said the exhibit does not constitute criticism of Israel, adding that “not all criticism of Israel is hostile.”

Finally, Oded Naaman was interviewed by pro-Palestinian radio show host and received many questions aiming to portray Israelis in a bad light, and while Oded enlightened readers with stories of the process of dehumanization, offered no victories to anyone seeking to hear Israelis are innately bad people. Listen below:

Download link

All the radio listeners, editorial readers and exhibit participants who expect an “expose” of how the occupation is a sham and the purpose of it is to subjugate the poor Palestinians is sorely disappointed. Anyone listening to this show I am quite sure never heard the security threats detailed so clearly as by Oded.

And neither will people hear a sparkling review of Israelis as impeccably pristine heroes impervious to confusion, doubt and regret.

Send us your thoughts about the exhibit by emailing us here or stopping by the exhibit during open hours to record your own video testimonials.

Said one person in Laura’s group as Arnon Degani led a tour, “But you were just following orders.”

Naturally, this made Laura feel very uncomfortable. Every Jewish person familiar with World War II has heard the rationale for soldiers in the German military in more extreme cases — cases much worse than occupation. And so while her better inclinations told her such parallels are inappropriate in scale, there is still an important element of personal responsibility which she felt cannot be avoided in even the most stringent military situations.

Yehuda, Arnon, Oded and Dotan each acknowledge their own culpability in what they did, and yet try to explain how bright, nice young men become susceptible to the “numbing” power of boredom, fear and excitement as soldiers. It is not a black and white case of individual vs. group thinking, but the two play an important role in how Israel proceeds into the future.

Disclaimer: The opinions shown here do not represent the views of Shovrim Shtika/Breaking the Silence or that of its speakers. The opinions here belong to the individuals who voluntarily contributed these video clips.

In addition to responses by participants in the exhibit, we’d also like to begin posting testimonials by soldiers to share the nature of the exhibit’s content with you. You can always browse many more testimonials in the online archive.
This video is a sample of the testimonies taken by Breaking the Silence, in this case describing the second thoughts this soldier has regarding the use of Palestinians as human shields during anti-terror operations. He describes the normality of the moment, but the shock after being discharged and returning to society.

You are welcome to comment on the video below, email us a response, or stop by the exhibit to leave us with your own video response.

Joe is a Masters student in Jewish History at Brandeis and a long-time follower of Middle East events. In 2005, he took a Breaking the Silence tour to Hebron where he saw first-hand many of the locations and images depicted in the exhibit.

He describes what many American Jews feel when they witness the graffiti, the settlements, the impact of security measures upon Palestinian life, and the impact of that on young Israeli soldiers: “While I had read about what was happening, seeing it was really hard.”

And this is key, because while knowledge of abuses is (perhaps) commonplace in (some) corners of American Jewry, addressing it as a pressing issue — be it a deeper cause and effect of violence, or the existential threat to Israel’s values — is most often not. Just because we know about it doesn’t mean we are any more inspired to deal with the ugliness of it.

And if nothing else, the Breaking the Silence exhibit has forced American Jews who see this exhibit to really answer important questions: How do we answer settler extremism and violence? How do we see Israeli society now that we’ve seen an existential threat also? How far are we willing to go in order to protect both the existential and security interests of the Jewish state?

Joe’s full testimony here: