I experience security checks multiple times each day in Israel. Arabs do too. If they really stopped trying to kill us, all these checkpoints would melt away in months.
My name is Alon Malik and I served as a fighter in the Kfir infantry unit between 2008 and 2011, and a significant part of my military service was spent on the front lines, in different areas within the West Bank.
One of the regular activities in our service was to man a “pillbox” guard post, which overlooked the entrance to a village, in order to check for weapons.
Now is the place to note that nobody we encountered ever experienced any kind of harassment, abuse, or any kind of disturbance. On the contrary, every single person who passed our way was treated entirely appropriately. The routine was unpleasant, but it was nothing compared to the cases when we received hot reports of potential terror attacks and we were forced to check cars one by one as they exited the village.
The time I best remember was at the beginning of January 2010. At ten in the morning we received an instruction from the command room to perform thorough checks following a severe warning about a vehicle which may be smuggling weapons and ammunition to terrorists in order to perform a terror attack. Just as we started to do as instructed and check the passing vehicles, a few women from “Checkpoint Watch” approached us and came within a few meters of us.
We were already used to them coming on the weekend to take photos and videos of us. This time they started to curse us and scream at us, shoved their cameras in our faces and even to push us and try to pull us forcefully away from the vehicles we were checking. The resulting disorder following their disruptances caused massive crowding and a long backlog of cars at the exit to the village. Within a few minutes the situation became utterly chaotic as dozens of Palestinians gathered around us while the women confronted my commander and myself.
I’ll never forget those few moments, during which I found myself standing there as a barrier against six adult women, with ages ranging between that of my mother and grandmother, spitting awful curses at as, like “disgusting Nazi”, “how is your mother not embarrassed that her son acts like one of Hitler’s soldiers?” and other horrible, outrageous things. When they tried to force their way past me, I was compelled to spread my arms and gently block them reaching the commander who was checking the vehicles at the time in order to ease the overload and to manage the situation. And then, in the freezing cold of the deepest winter, there in the Hebron hills, two of the women started pouring water on me from their drinking bottles, while pushing and cursing me, something which continued for a few minutes until the company command team arrived and cleared them away from the area after half an hour of trouble-making in which they distracted us from preventing the next terror attack, by attempts at shaming and disturbing us from performing our duty.
Ah yes, ten minutes after the Checkpoint Watch women left our checkpoint, we stopped a red Toyota car, and found an M-16 assault rifle and two magazines.
As an Israeli, I know full well how the situation is complicated, and I respect all opinions, but as a soldier who’s sent to perform assignments in the field, I know exactly what efforts are made in order to reduce the harm for whoever doesn’t need to be harmed. Therefore, to see civilian organisations using us, the soldiers, to promote their own agenda is unacceptable, and harms the soldiers more than anyone.
You really can’t make this stuff up. Whereas it’s been proved that Breaking the Silence largely does. And while we’re on the subject of BtS, here’s who pays for their subversive work (source NGO Monitor):
Funding: 2014 income of NIS 3,802, 165 million (latest available; accessed July 12, 2015).
Based on financial information submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits, in accordance with the Israeli NGO transparency law, BtS received NIS 1,128,209 from foreign governmental bodies in the first half of 2015, NIS 2,310,020 in 2014 and NIS 1,271,368 in 2013 (accessed July 27, 2015). (See table below for detailed funding information).
In 2008-2014, the New Israel Fund (NIF) authorized grants worth $699,310 to Breaking the Silence (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014).
Breaking the Silence (BtS) has been receiving direct and indirect funding from various European governments for many years. In 2014 (latest comprehensive data available), 61% of BtS’ annual budget was from foreign (European) governments (direct and indirect combined).In addition, in December 2015, following inquiries from NGO Monitor, the EU disclosed that it was providing to BtS an additional €236,000 (~1 million NIS) in 2015-2017, under a project titled “Educating for Change: Human Rights Education in Israeli Society.”
My Truth have so far only raised funds by crowd funding and a donation from an Israeli business man. European nations have not been quick to offer funds. Most of the work on the project has been done on a completely volunteer basis. Quite a contrast to BtS’s international road show.
Brian of London is not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy. Since making aliyah in 2009, Brian has blogged at Israellycool. Brian is an indigenous rights activist fighting for indigenous people who’ve returned to their ancestral homelands and built great things.
Brian of London is not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy. Since making aliyah in 2009, Brian has blogged at Israellycool. Brian is an indigenous rights activist fighting for indigenous people who’ve returned to their ancestral homelands and built great things.
