About the Exhibit
We, the founders of Breaking the Silence, are former Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers who served in the occupied Palestinian Territories. We saw and did a great deal during our time in the occupied territories, but for the duration of our service, we said very little about our experience, to our friends, to our families, and even to each other.
But after we completed our army service, we chose to break the silence. We did so because our service has had a lasting impact on us, and because we have a story to tell.
The moral challenges we faced during our service were complex. And those challenges are not solely ours: they also confront the society of which we are a part. And therein lays another reason to break the silence. Our society must make difficult moral choices, and our modest hope is that the testimony we convey by breaking our silence can inform those choices.
And as we believe American society must confront many of these same questions and challenges, we are sharing our memories, and our photographs.
What does our exhibit depict? It shows Palestinians enduring the consequences of the difficult orders we carried out, and it shows us executing those orders. For many, the pictures can be difficult to view, but we show them without judgment or political purpose; what we present is simply our experience. And, as we have found in each of our exhibits, our audiences understand and respect what we are doing.
In Israel
Our first exhibit, “Breaking the Silence: Fighters Tell about Hebron” was shown in Israel in June 2004. It featured photographs taken by soldiers who served in Hebron, as well as video testimonies from over 60 such soldiers. The exhibit traveled to a number of venues in Israel, with the most prominent being the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.
Between June 2004 and April 2005, the exhibit showed in the Geographical Photography College in Tel Aviv, the Pyramid Gallery in Haifa, Kibbutzim Seminar in Tel Aviv, and Tel Aviv University.
The effect of the exhibit was extraordinary. Over 11,000 Israelis visited the exhibit during its various stops in Israel, including parliament members, media representatives, and perhaps most importantly, soldiers who themselves had served and continue to serve in the occupied territories. We believe that many of these soldiers were inspired, for the first time, to tell their families about their experience in the territories. You can view many of these photos in our photo gallery online.
The success of our exhibit has inspired us to redouble our efforts. We continue to gather testimony and photographs from increasing numbers of former soldiers. And the more material we gather, the more we believe in the goals of the project: to show what Israel’s soldiers are asked to do day in and day out, and to ensure that those soldiers’ experiences inform the discussion – in Israel and beyond — about the future of the territories and Israel’s involvement in them.
In Europe
The exhibit showed in Geneva in April 2006 and in Amsterdam in October 2006, reaching over 3,000 people, including EU and UN dignitaries, ambassadors and legislators.
In America
Building on the impact we have had in Israel and Europe, we now hope to share our experiences with audiences outside Israel, and especially with the Jewish community in the United States.
Our current exhibits in Philadelphia and Cambridge/Boston feature approximately 120 photos and artifacts, over two hours of video testimonies, and this blog. We also intend to present talks and other programs, both at the gallery space and at other venues.
Check out our hours and events page for a full list of our exhibit’s open hours and the closest events to you.
