Breaking the Silence

Israeli activists hold a protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli military rule over Palestinians in the West Bank, September 23, 2021. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

How this government will turn its Jewish critics into dissidents

The transformation of Israeli leftists into dissidents is a reminder that no one is safe from the attempts to turn the 'wrong kind' of Jews into enemies.

By Edo Konrad December 16, 2022

Rachel Beitarie, Executive Director of the left-wing Israeli NGO Zochrot, sits in front of the Jaffa Clock Tower. Around 95% of Jaffa's Palestinian population fled or were expelled during the Nakba. (Oren Ziv)

The Israeli left has broken the Nakba taboo. Will the right of return be next?

The past year has seen many left-wing Israeli groups looking beyond the occupation to confront the legacies of 1948, but they remain divided over redressing the exile of Palestinian refugees through return.

By Ben Reiff June 23, 2022

Palestinian children light candles during a protest near destroyed buildings in Rafah, Gaza, May 25, 2021. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

We Israelis spend our entire lives seeing Palestinians only as threats

Even as our army obliterates entire families in Gaza, Israelis continue to sweep Palestinian humanity under a rug of unconvincing security justifications.

By Yael Lotan May 31, 2021

Latest

Palestinians walk in front of buildings destroyed by Israeli military forces in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, Aug. 4, 2014. (Emad Nasser/Flash90)

The best way to avoid an ICC probe: Don’t commit war crimes

With every settlement and military operation, Israel has been paving its own road to The Hague.

By Avner Gvaryahu February 15, 2021

A Palestinian woman examines the damage in her house after a night raid by Israeli soldiers, Balata Refugee Camp, West Bank, January 3, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

‘We were armed, we destroyed her kitchen, and we moved on’

Israelis like to think that military home invasions are only for security reasons. Former soldiers — and Palestinian families — know that's not the truth.

By Nadav Weiman December 10, 2020

Israeli soldiers raid a Palestinian house as hundreds of demonstrators march in the West Bank city of Hebron calling to open Shuhada Street, February 20, 2019. (Activestills.org)

‘I can’t fall asleep’: The trauma of Israeli raids on Palestinian homes

A new report by human rights groups highlights the arbitrary nature and psychological harm of the Israeli army's home invasions on Palestinian families.

By Oren Ziv December 2, 2020

Israeli security officers take position near a burning tire during clashes with Palestinian protesters at a demonstration marking Land Day at Qalandiya checkpoint, near Ramallah, March 30, 2012. (Uri Lenz/FLASH90)

Jared Kushner does not see the brutal occupation I helped carry out

As a former soldier, I enforced two separate legal systems for Israelis and Palestinians. The Trump plan wants to make this reality permanent.

By Yehuda Shaul February 3, 2020

Israeli soldiers violently drag Rabbi Arik Ascherman while he and a group of activists attempt to repair an access road for a cluster of Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills on May 3, 2019. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

In the Hebron Hills, the settlers are the lords and the IDF does their bidding

A new booklet by Breaking the Silence compiles dozens of accounts by former Israeli soldiers who served in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank.

By +972 Resources November 12, 2019

Palestinian boys dressed up as prisoners protest for the release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails, Gaza City, 21 April 2007. (Ahmad Khateib/Flash90)

Palestinian kids are arrested every day. This time it’s my friend’s son

All my friend’s son wanted to do was pass his high school exit exams and go on to study at a university. Now, like thousands of other Palestinians before and after him, he is behind bars. No one knows why. Several days ago, a dear friend who lives in the West Bank city of Jenin…

By Orly Noy June 26, 2019

Israeli animal rights activists take part in a protest against animal cruelty, central Tel Aviv, August 24, 2013. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

By going vegan, Israelis can avoid talking about human rights

By choosing an ‘easier’ cause to fight for, some Israelis have decided they can have it all. By showing compassion to animals and their suffering, we can live with the continued blindness to the pain of the humans among us. By Rachel Shenhav-Goldberg Israelis have taken to vegetarianism and veganism perhaps more than any country in…

By +972 Magazine May 22, 2019

An Israeli settler (left) films a member of Breaking the Silence group during a tour in Hebron, West Bank, February 24, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

How to turn human rights activists into ‘traitors’ in a few easy steps

The Israeli right’s years-long effort to portray Breaking the Silence as traitors fell flat on its face this last week. Will the media or the politicians who incited against them apologize? One day in the future, when high school students learn about the transformation of Israel from a nationalistic fortress state into a fascistic one, an entire chapter…

By Orly Noy February 6, 2019

Handout photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, June 4, 2018. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Israeli gov’t is trying to defund +972 Magazine, report says

Israel has been working to curtail critical voices in recent years, often by portraying them as foreign agents and seeking to dry up their funding. By +972 Magazine Staff Israel asked the German government to pressure two left-leaning political foundations to stop funding +972 Magazine, according to a report in the German media Thursday. +972…

By +972 Magazine December 6, 2018

Israeli soldiers detaining Avner Gvaryahu, director of Breaking the Silence, on a tour of the South Hebron Hills, August 31, 2018. (Nasser Nawaja, B'Tselem)

IDF detains South Hebron Hills tour organizers, days after settler attack there

Israeli soldiers detained senior members of Breaking the Silence and a human rights attorney in an attempt to block a tour of the South Hebron Hills, where settlers attacked six left-wing activists last week. By Orly Noy Breaking the Silence planned a tour in the South Hebron Hills on Friday, as a token of solidarity with the…

By Orly Noy August 31, 2018