Breaking the Silence Exhibit: The Combatant’s Story

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.

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.”

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.

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:

This student of the Kennedy School of Government really refutes the concerns that people will walk away from this exhibit with a distorted view of Israelis. To the contrary, they learn something very commendable about Israel, despite the somber topics:

“I think what I come away with most is to see the nuance and opinion amongst Israeli soldiers. It’s not a group that you hear a lot about because you’re so busy talking about policy and who’s doing what’s right and what’s wrong and you don’t really hear what Israeli soldiers that are actually doing this feel.”

Listen to his full testimonial below:

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.

Nadav is an Israeli American who served in the IDF from 2003-2006 and is now student at Harvard. Just a quick excerpt about his support for the exhibit is below:
“What’s put on in this exhibit is an integral part of the experience of being in the territories and what goes on there…This is a very important part of the story and shows the price we pay for being in the territories…Anybody who’s making a decision about the territories should have these facts and these testimonies and these stories in mind. Knowing what it means for the Israeli army to be in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Listen to his full participant testimonial here:

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.

Zehra Hijri, Harvard undergrad, volunteered in the West Bank and encountered the experience described by the soldiers of Breaking the Silence. Understandably, she was furious and nurtured a deep confusion (to say the least) about Israel, Israelis and IDF soldiers.

Which makes her post on the Harvard International Review all the more phenomenal as she says about Oded Naaman and Dotan Greenvald: “they ‘rehumanized’ this dehumanizing occupation, and helped me to overcome my hatred.”

Read the highlights of her inspiring post here:

The volunteers from “Breaking the Silence” changed everything. First of all, they validate the truth of so many of the things that I witnessed by sharing them with people here and in Israel. Second of all, they let people know what really goes on so that more steps can be taken to fix this, and thirdly, which is overwhelmingly of the most importance to me, they helped me understand so much why the IDF does what they do in the territories and demystified those seemingly incomprehensible factors which compel normal, good human beings to commit such acts. By providing these explanations and insights they “rehumanized” this dehumanizing occupation, and helped me to overcome my hatred.

We’ve always believed that this kind of content — in which Israeli soldiers are neither heroes nor monsters, but young people in impossible situations — is helpful to neither “pro-Palestinian” nor “pro-Israeli” traditional dichotomies.

There is a huge confusion on the part of Jews, Israeli and American lovers of Israel that any such stories of abuse could emerge from their lovable friends and families in Israel. It has to be a lie, it has to be an exaggeration, it has to be the work of “Israel haters.” But life is more complicated than that.

Zehra continues:

This exhibit and these soldiers truly helped me restore my faith in humanity again and brought this conflict down to its essential components. At the end of the day we are dealing with humanity, not politics and not land. No governments are present at these checkpoints, its just people and how circumstances affect their interactions. This exhibit is something that everyone needs to see regardless of their political or personal biases, because it’s a way to understand at its basic form, what war and conflict does to the individual.

Bingo: “its just people and how circumstances affect their interactions.” The milieu of occupation duty is a slippery slope of absolute power, little accountability, a context of violence, and a very real security threat that leads ordinary people to do appalling things.

Zehra we think is an inspiration for how this exhibit is received by all kinds of people — and a testament against the concerns of people who fear this exhibit harms Israel’s image. We think it helps.

Sherry is a longtime peace activist and an American Jew committed to a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her sense of upset here really reflects an interesting American point of view: it is very easy for us in the States to question why soldiers would even participate in these actions if, as reflected in the testimonies, the soldiers recognize the questionable character of the orders they receive.

Sherry asks why they continue serving. Breaking the Silence doesn’t condone or condemn refusers (conscientious objectors) in the IDF. At the very least, the members of Breaking the Silence consider heavily why they continue to serve, or whether to go back on reserve duty, and certainly some decide both ways.
Here are Sherry’s concerns:

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.

Jim is a Christian, highly interested and involved in the Middle East conflict. I love this testimonial because he dispels so much of the concerns that this exhibit “encourages Israel’s destroyers” and is impossible to appreciate without a Jewish background.

Listen to his impression of Israelis and the dynamics of the conflict and decide for yourself: