Release Date: July 14, 2009

NGO Monitor: EU, UK and NIF Amplify the False Claims of 'Breaking the
Silence'

(Jerusalem) - Ahead of tomorrow's (Wednesday's) report on the recent Gaza
conflict by the NGO, Breaking the Silence (BtS), Jerusalem based watchdog,
NGO Monitor noted the group's one sided narrative, made possible through
funds from the European Union and others.

· BtS is a political organization that uses claims of human rights
violations by a very few soldiers to promote opposition to "the occupation".
BtS tours to Hebron and the South Hebron Hills highlight the primacy of the
political objectives.
· In the process, they strip away the context of the conflict -
particularly the ongoing terror attacks targeting Israeli civilians.
· BtS uses testimony from a few soldiers to portray a "grim picture"
of IDF actions. Like other such allegations, there is no way to verify their
accuracy, or whether they are more than marginal exceptions.
· In contrast, BtS ignores evidence of positive and moral IDF
activity, disregarding the extensive IDF measures to prevent injuries to
Palestinians caught in this conflict.

Funding sources include:

· EURO 54,393 from the EU's EIDHR for "Personal Encounters with
Former Israeli Combat Soldiers." (2008)
· New Israel Fund (funded in part by the Ford Foundation) $70,976 for
"[r]aising public awareness of the destructive consequences that serving in
the occupied territories has on Israeli society" (p.15) 2007.
· Additional funds were provided the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv and
others.

As NGO Monitor's Executive Director, Prof Gerald Steinberg noted "Breaking
the Silence is a small and marginal group that seeks to delegitimize the IDF
in order to promote private agendas, rather than helping to correct the few
examples of immoral behavior that occur in every military force. These few
shrill voices are magnified entirely out of proportion by money provided by
the European Union, the British Embassy and the NIF."

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Editors Notes:
NGO Monitor was founded to promote transparency, critical analysis and
debate on the political role of human rights organizations. For more
information, see our website at
http://www.ngo-monitor.org
NGO Monitor's Executive Director is, Prof. Gerald Steinberg.
Members of NGO Monitor's International Advisory Board include Elie Wiesel,
Prof Alan Dershowitz, Sir Martin Gilbert, R. James Woolsey and Elliott
Abrams
For further information, comment or interviews, contact Dan Kosky
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