I cannot believe that in these difficult times for our beloved homeland, Israel, Limmud UK gave a voice to the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, and self-hating Breaking the Silence (BtS) NGO by allowing them to present their lies at their conference last week in Birmingham.
Matam Barmoy, an IDF officer who was fighting Hamas in Gaza up until last week, had to be escorted out of the conference after staging a protest about the screening of a BtS propaganda film.
I served in Lebanon, Gaza, and the territories as a soldier in a frontline combat unit. I also served for many years in miluim (reserve duty) and am currently on the Gaza front in the Swords of Iron war against Hamas. I went through rigorous training and took many courses in the army. I have participated in numerous military operations both inside Israel and beyond its borders, and I can categorically state that, in all this time, I never received an “illegal order.”
Protecting the country at all costs
I never took part in any activities that deliberately harmed innocent civilians. Every briefing in which I participated before going out on a mission, no matter how small or large, stressed the importance of guarding the values of the IDF.
I am extremely proud of my own service and of all those who served with me. I was privileged to be with the best of the best of the people of Israel.
I am proud of our State and its open democracy. There is a way to voice an opinion about what happens in Israel and in the IDF in particular. That way is not through lies or financial support from foreign countries and organizations that drag Israel’s name, its army, and its citizens through the mud.
There is room to criticize the IDF, but that criticism should be leveled fairly and honestly. Namely, any criticism must provide all known information and sources to the IDF’s investigative bodies, whose job it is to investigate every case that oversteps the boundaries of the commands and spirit of the IDF.
THE NGO, Breaking the Silence, which receives financial support from international organizations, some of whom openly deny Israel’s right to exist, does not work that way. A large part of its claims, in addition to being paid for, are anonymous, with no identifying information.
Further, these claims are not delivered to the IDF’s investigative bodies, but rather, transferred directly to international bodies hostile to Israel and the IDF. The organization does not cooperate during the investigation of its claims, preferring instead to spread unchecked, malicious stories abroad.
During my IDF service, not harming innocent civilians was always at the front of my mind; I would rather die myself than kill innocent civilians. Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp, who recently visited my unit on the frontlines in Gaza, noted that “the Israeli army has taken greater steps than any other army in the history of warfare to minimize the harm to innocent civilians in a combat zone.”
The reality of the IDF is the antithesis of the image that is projected by Breaking the Silence.
While there is wide support for the IDF’s operation to rid Israel and the world of the Hamas terrorist threat, this is not the time to promote a fringe, anti-Zionist, self-hating organization at a Jewish educational conference such as Limmud UK, which is supposed to promote unity.
The writer is a Jewish educator, author, and licensed tour guide. His latest book is Jewish Journeys: The Second Temple Period to the Bar Kokhba Revolt: 536 BCE-136 CE (Koren Publishers). He is currently serving as a reservist in the IDF as a combat medic in Gaza.