Shovrim Shtika

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Breaking the Silence (Hebrew שוברים שתיקה, German Breaking the Silence , English Breaking the Silence (BtS) , letters often based on the English transliteration Shovrim Shtika ) is a political Israeli non-governmental organization of former and active soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the According to the company, the aim is to “ confront the Israeli public with the reality of daily life in the occupied territories ” by publishing reports from soldiers about their experiences during their service. The organization has been criticized for the lack of verifiability of the allegations it has made and for its predominant funding from abroad.

history

Schovrim Schtika was founded in February 2004 by Jehuda Schaul and other former soldiers in order to process their own experiences in the occupation service emotionally and to educate the Israeli, European and American public, for example with lectures on aspects of everyday occupation in the context of the Middle East conflict .

To this end, Shovrim Shtika collects statements and documents from soldiers about their occupation service in the Gaza Strip , the Golan and the West Bank and prepares them for the public, e. B. also as video clips or photo exhibition. In terms of content, it is about alleged attacks against civilians, but also about the everyday work of soldiers, e.g. B. at the checkpoints , or the suicide rate in the military. According to the organization, mistreatment of Palestinians, looting and the destruction of property have been the norm for years. The military, on the other hand, refers to military necessities in the fight against terrorism and isolated misconduct.

After Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009, the organization sparked an intense discussion in Israel and internationally with the publication of statements made by soldiers involved in the military operation about controversial orders from officers such as " Shoot and don't worry about the consequences ".

financing

The organization receives financial support from a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations, including Christian communities. The Israeli army and government criticize the fact that it is not a non-governmental organization (NGO) but a company sponsored by foreign institutions, and Prime Minister Netanyahu urged all foreign governments not to support the organization further. Schovrim Schtika stated the following donors for 2013:

Name of the sponsor country Type of organization Amount in shekels (2013)
European Union European UnionEuropean Union Government organization 422,566
Misereor GermanyGermany christian (cath.) 333.139
Broederlijk Delen BelgiumBelgium christian (cath.) 270.024
Fondation pro Victimis SwitzerlandSwitzerland NGO 273,372
Norwegian Embassy NorwayNorway Government organization 248,823
Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) SpainSpain Government organization 177,660
Sigrid Rausing Trust United KingdomUnited Kingdom NGO 157.150
Rockefeller Brothers Fund United StatesUnited States NGO 155.980
Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv NorwayNorway Government organization 148.315
Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) NetherlandsNetherlands christian (cath.) 147,325
Open Society Institute United StatesUnited States NGO 135,740
Dan Church Aid (DCA) DenmarkDenmark Christian (prot.) 125,594
Macmillan Royalties ? ? 108,499
New Israel Fund United StatesUnited States NGO 72.025
Medico international GermanyGermany NGO 50,673
Foundation for Middle East Peace United StatesUnited States NGO 36,185
British Embassy in Israel United KingdomUnited Kingdom Government organization
Christian Aid United KingdomUnited Kingdom Christian
Ford Foundation Israel United StatesUnited States NGO (pro Palestinian)
Moriah Fund United StatesUnited States NGO
Oxfam United Kingdom United KingdomUnited Kingdom NGO (pro Palestinian)
The Sparkplug Foundation United StatesUnited States NGO (pro Palestinian)
Steuncomité Israëlische Vredes- en Mensenrechte Organisaties (SIVMO) NetherlandsNetherlands NGO (pro Palestinian)
Trócaire IrelandIreland christian (cath.)

Methods

The most controversial method of Shovrim Shtika is the anonymous testimony of soldiers. According to the Israel Defense Forces, these statements resulted in errors in the investigation of reported incidents. Shovrim Shtika, on the other hand, claims that soldiers 'personal reports can be made available for official, independent investigations as long as the soldiers' identities are not made public. In the opinion of Ulrich Schmid , the Middle East correspondent for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , it is mostly not realized abroad what deep bitterness the otherwise largely ineffective organization causes with its actions in Israel. It does not work traditionally politically, it also avoids the parliamentary and judicial route, but specifically influences foreign media and governments, from which it then hopes to put pressure on Israel.

The organization also designed a traveling exhibition consisting of photographs entitled This is how we fought in Gaza . On display are photographs of Israeli soldiers that they took during their military service to document their everyday occupation. Part of the concept is that two former soldiers guide through the exhibition. In 2012 she made a guest appearance in the Willy Brandt House in Berlin , in 2015 she was seen in the Kulturhaus Helferei of the Grossmünster parish in Zurich . This and, in particular, their subsidies from the public sector have been criticized. In October 2015, the exhibition was to be shown as part of two anniversaries in the Cologne Adult Education Center: the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany and the 55th anniversary of the student exchange between the city of Cologne and the Israeli twin city Tel Aviv. After a protest letter from the Israeli embassy, ​​the exhibition was canceled in June 2015 by the mayor of Cologne, Jürgen Roters, with reference to the context of the anniversary celebrations and their non-contextualized one-sidedness. Several Christian-Jewish organizations had also raised concerns. The Israeli embassy stated that it was not a question of canceling the event itself, but only criticized that it was under the label of the celebrations. While local politicians mostly expressed understanding for the rejection and the parliamentary group leaders of the SPD and FDP declared that it would have been better to examine the concerns earlier and not even give the commitment, Rupert Neudeck and Moshe Zimmermann protested against a "hair-raising capitulation by Cologne". On June 16, 2015, the city of Cologne announced that it would present the exhibition in 2016 "in an appropriate context".

Shovrim Shtika organizes weekly city tours in Hebron for Israelis to point out what they believe to be wrongdoing by the military there.

Controversy

The left-liberal Israeli newspaper “ Haaretz ” pointed out in 2009 that Shovrim Shtika had a “clear political agenda” and could therefore no longer be called a human rights organization . An organization that declares that it wants to expose “the corruption pervading the military system” is not a neutral observer. To show the consequences of the military presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip , Shovrim Shtika seems to be more important than the fight against concrete injustice, because the collected testimony can hardly be used in criminal investigations.

A 2016 report by the Israeli television magazine HaMakor analyzes the work of Shovrim Shtika and questions its credibility. In particular, their assertions that every reported incident had previously been confirmed by at least two witnesses independently of one another and that none of the witness statements submitted had specifically been denied had proven untenable. Rather, it works with partially false and unproven witness statements.

Shovrim Shtika co-founder Yehuda Shaul claimed in 2016 that Israeli settlers had poisoned the drinking water of a Palestinian village . This has been criticized as demonstrably untrue.

Due to a planned meeting between German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and representatives from Shovrim Shtika and B'Tselem , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a meeting with Gabriel on April 25, 2017, which was scheduled for the same day. The German-Israeli Society (DIG) then criticized Gabriel's behavior. The vice-president of the DIG and deputy parliamentary group leader of the Union in the Bundestag, Gitta Connemann , accused Gabriel of a lack of tact and said that she “missed careful selection” of the interlocutors. Former Israeli intelligence chief Ami Ayalon , on the other hand, was stunned by Netanyahu's behavior: "Breaking the Silence is the mirror that shows us what the world is telling us."

According to the Israeli political scientist Gerald Steinberg , the financial support from abroad for Shovrim Shtika and their defamatory portrayal of the Israeli armed forces increases the approval of the conservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu among the Israeli population .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matti Friedman: Breaking the Silence: Shocking instead of explaining. In: Jüdische Allgemeine . June 25, 2015, accessed April 2, 2016 .
  2. ^ Israeli Soldiers Talk Of Abuses , CBS News. July 11, 2005. 
  3. ^ Ethan Bronner, Soldiers' Accounts of Gaza Killings Raise Furor in Israel , The New York Times, March 19, 2009.
  4. ^ Breaking silence on Gaza abuses , BBC News . July 15, 2009. 
  5. ↑ Crying out loud , Haaretz . November 19, 2010.  
  6. ↑ Our funders . In: Transparency . Breaking the Silence. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  7. ↑ BtS Financial Report 2013
  8. ↑ AECID home . AGENCIA ESPAÑOLA DE COOPERACIÓN INTERNACIONAL PARA EL DESARROLLO. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  9. ↑ https://www.icco-cooperation.org/nl/
  10. ^ Ford Foundation Home . Ford Foundation. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  11. ^ Scott Sherman: Target Ford , The Nation . June 5, 2006. Retrieved October 18, 2006. 
  12. ^ The Moriah Fund . Moriah Fund. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  13. ↑ a b Mission statement . Sparkplug Foundation. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  14. ↑ a b About SIVMO . Committee for Support to Israeli Peace and Human Rights Organizations. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  15. ^ Jonathan Lis: IDF questions reservists who organized Hebron photo exhibit , Schovrim Schtika. June 23, 2004.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.shovrimshtika.org  
  16. ↑ Oded Na'aman: Israel needs the truth about Cast Lead , The Guardian . July 2009. 
  17. ↑ a b Ulrich Schmid : Soldiers report on the war in Gaza , m NZZ of May 24, 2015
  18. ↑ Started a debate and did not give in to pressure. In: deutschlandfunk.de. Retrieved June 17, 2015 .
  19. ^ Andreas Damm, Christian Parth: After a protest by the Israeli embassy: Jürgen Roters cancels an exhibition critical of Israel. In: ksta.de. June 12, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  20. ^ Curdin Vincenz: An exhibition critical of Israel polarized in Zurich. In: srf.ch. June 4, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  21. ^ Salome Müller: City of Zurich offends Jews. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. June 3, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Michael Hesse and Joachim Frank: Gaza War: Cologne cancels exhibition. In: fr-online.de . June 15, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  23. ↑ a b OB cancels a show critical of Israel. In: welt.de . June 15, 2015, accessed June 17, 2015 .
  24. ↑ Cancellation of exhibition triggers controversy. In: welt.de . June 16, 2015, accessed June 17, 2015 .
  25. ^ Controversy about an exhibition critical of Israel. In: Domradio. June 15, 2015, accessed June 15, 2015 .
  26. ↑ a b City of Cologne wants to show canceled Israel-critical exhibition 2016 - domradio.de. In: Domradio. June 16, 2015, accessed June 16, 2015 .
  27. ^ Former Israeli soldier seeks to shine a light on Hebron , LA Times . November 16, 2010. 
  28. ↑ Amos Harel: Gaza testimonies / Diverting the debate from the real issue. In: Haaretz.com. July 16, 2009, accessed June 17, 2015 .
  29. ^ Matan Katzman: Breaking the Silence's Myths Busted. In: timesofisrael.com. July 18, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2017 .
  30. ^ A b Alex Feuerherdt : "Breaking the Silence": Propaganda instead of enlightenment. In: mena-watch.com. August 2, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2017 .
  31. ↑ Ben Dror Yemini: A current of lies. In: ynetnews.com. June 24, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2017 .
  32. ↑ Netanyahu drops meeting with Gabriel. In: Spiegel Online . April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017 .
  33. ^ Scandal in Israel. German-Israeli Society criticizes Gabriel. In: FAZ.net . April 26, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017 .
  34. ↑ What is meant by occupation. In: FAZ.net . September 13, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017 .