Breaking the Silence > Quotes

“The assumption
was that they (the Palestinians) very quickly hid all the equipment in the mosque
and in the school. The large headquarters that they were trying to find for
smuggling infiltrators wasn't found, but the village was turned upside down.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“I came from a family of, like, the classic Zionist left, who knows that what’s
happening in the [occupied] territories is not right but excuses it through all sorts
of intellectual acrobatics of “If I refuse orders then everyone will refuse orders
when settlements are evacuated.” So you do need a hierarchy, and you convince
yourself that you have to be humble and accept orders.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“I think if it had been the
other way around, it wouldn’t
have ended that way. If the
description had been “two
terrorists walking around in
Judea and Samaria,” the whole
world would have been up in
arms. Two settlers from Mitzpe
Yair – the army gave up after a
few hours and passed it on to
the police.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“If you feel like entering a village and turning it upside down –
just say that you're searching for weapons, what do you care? You go into houses,
open closets, take [things] out.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“But if you happen to come across an incident of a riot or a law being broken
by Israelis (settlers), such as people who throw stones on cars, what is your
authority?
I think I can maybe catch them or remove them. I think it wasn’t our responsibility,
we didn’t have that power.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“He yelled at the kid: “Stay here, don’t go anywhere.” He came out, said everything was okay, called over the squad commander from the checkpoint, stood facing the kid and told the squad commander, “That’s how you deal with them.” Then he gave the kid another two slaps and let him go. It’s a crazy story, I remember sitting in the vehicle, looking on, and telling myself: I’ve been waiting for a situation like this for three years. From the minute I enlisted, I wanted to stop things like this, and here I am doing nothing, choosing to do nothing, is that okay? I remember answering myself: Yes, it’s okay. He’s hitting an Arab, and I’m doing nothing. I was really aware of doing nothing because I was scared of the company commander, and what could I do? Jump off the jeep and tell him to stop, because it’s stupid, what he’s doing?”
― Breaking the Silence, Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010

“A real
sense took root that these are
not human beings. Obviously
we can arrest them, but we’re
also humane so we’ll release
them along the way.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“There’s a very clear sense
there that it’s you who
determines the law, or your
commander. Things happen
quickly and you don’t have
time to debate now over
human rights and judicial
implications, and you’re also, at
the end of the day, a nineteen-year-old kid who gets all
excited about his weapon and
thinks he’s chasing terrorists”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills

“but [at night]
there was never any resistance in the village, they accepted it. Just like we are
indifferent to their humanity, they were also indifferent to their own humanity. [We]
don’t treat them like human beings, just don’t treat them like human beings.”
― Breaking the Silence, The South Hebron Hills