This article was contributed by Michael Goldin.
Breaking the Silence (BTS) is an Israeli NGO that, in its own words, wants to “bring Hebron to Tel Aviv”; meaning that members want to expose the reality of the occupation to the Israeli public. Given that only about half of all Israelis serve in the IDF and of those that do many are never posted to the West Bank, the overwhelming majority of Israelis go about their ordinary lives quite unaware of the industrial-scale military occupation taking place just a couple of miles to their east. BTS want to change this, in the hope that it will act as the catalyst which ends the occupation and ensures a peaceful settlement.
BTS does this is two ways. They collect testimonies of those who have served in the Occupied Territories, thus compiling evidence of the crimes and moral indirections that soldiers are forced to commit there, and they take people on tours to the more contested parts of the West Bank. I have twice been on their tour of Hebron (once with Rene Cassin and this past September with Yachad), arguably the most controversial city in the West Bank. In addition, having the privilege of being a student leader with Yachad, I have also been involved in events in the UK which have brought members of BTS over to the UK in order to educate about the occupation and to discuss what we in the diaspora could do towards ending it.
The moral convictions of the BTS activists is admirable. The organisation does not take a particular stance on the conflict’s resolution – there are both those who support two-states and one-state – yet those who work there are resolute about the fact that the status quo, i.e. an almost 50 year old occupation of martial law, is intolerable. It makes life unbearable for Palestinians, it is unreasonable in its system of law, it whitewashes colonisation of land and it perpetuates the fact that Israel forces its own children to harass, discriminate and even kill for its own ends. We are all well aware that while security is paramount, it can similarly be used as cover for various untoward ends.
Yet what strikes me most about the BTS activists is their courage. Not only does the organisation continue to do its vital work in the face of self-inflicted blindness and abuse both in Israel and abroad, but many of its activists do their work at personal cost. The guide who taught us about Hebron this past September explained to us that when he first tried to tell friends and family the terrible things he had been asked to do while serving in the West Bank he was not believed. When he subsequently became involved in BTS he lost a number of his friends who thought that what he was doing was only harmful to Israel. People seem to think the BTS are either lying, failing to put Israeli actions in their proper context or not allowing Israel to take its security needs seriously. There is a deep irony here – those who seek to defend the occupation ignore and defame those who have served on the occupation’s front lines and have seen the threat Israel faces first-hand. BTS’ work requires not only moral conviction but the bravery and confidence to do it knowing every action done will be treated with immense suspicion and disdain.
This is something us Jews in the diaspora should learn from. We are often too timid to condemn Israel because we feel it would undermine our institutions or promote anti-Semitism. Yet our institutions are only worth having if they promote what is just and fair. If they stand with Israel regardless of what it does and ignoring which direction its political winds are blowing, there is little point to their existence. Both Jewish and Israeli leaders should be leading us in the direction of a just peace, not hurriedly following behind in the direction of infantile partisanship.
To be sure, anti-Semitism is a real threat, but we should be very wary of devaluing its currency. To conflate anti-Israel with anti-Jewish sentiments means that when real anti-Semitism does manifest itself our protests are compromised and sometimes not even believed. Yet, more importantly, even if standing against occupation does result in increased anti-Semitism (a thesis of which I am yet to be convinced) we should still not be afraid to do what we know to be right simply because of the bigotry of others. Having a moral duty is not dependent on other people being agreeable towards you. Our duty as Jews to hasten the end of the occupation and ensure a just peace for two peoples exists independently of how we ourselves are treated. Of course we take a stand against ant-Semitism were it exists, but that does not mean we neglect out own ethical imperatives.
We should be more confident in the fact that if we support Israel, we must ensure that it lives up to the democratic ideals it was founded upon. While many Israelis do much good, the occupation is such a stain on the country that it is only once it has ended will Israel be a nation state Jews can be truly proud of. To refuse to criticise Israel when it has manifestly done wrong is akin to parents spoiling a child. The child may be happy in the short-term but you are engendering bad habits as well as traits of entitlement and selfishness which make for a very unpleasant adult. For the sake of both the Palestinians and Israelis we must stand assured in our stance against occupation – once we have won this battle Israel will be a great deal close to being the mature, righteous country it of course can be.
