Among the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) units serving during the
Second Intifada in the early 2000s, there was one in particular, battalion 50 of the
Nahal, that in that period consisted of many youths from
moshavim and
kibbutzim, who had often known each other before their service. Erella Grassiani believed their background was one in which there was more open talk about a two-state solution and perhaps more sympathy for the civilians they encountered. They wanted to educate the general Israeli population about what went on in military efforts to control Arab populations of the Occupied Territories. The exhibition was attended by thousands of people and received some international coverage. Afterward, the organizers were questioned by IDF personnel seeking to substantiate apparent abuses by those veterans. That same year, Shaul, Avichai Sharon, and Noam Chayut (the latter two also members of battalion 50 who had served in Hebron), founded Breaking the Silence (BtS), a non-governmental organization (NGO). They set up a website, www.shovrimshtika.org, and advertised that they would confidentially collect and record testimonies by veterans of their military experiences in the Occupied Territories since the start of the Second Intifada (2000). They also volunteered to speak to youth groups, schools and community groups about their experiences. They traveled all across Israel to collect such accounts. The NGO attracted hundred of members in its first year. For more than a decade, Breaking the Silence has published booklets and books that are collections of soldiers' accounts in order to educate the public about the reality of military operations by Israeli soldiers in the territories. These publications are listed below and in the External Links section, with information for downloading the texts. BtS also posts written and videotaped reports on its official website. In addition, members have conducted speaking tours throughout Israel,
Western Europe, and the
United States.
Officials Shaul, who had completed two tours of duty in Hebron, served as the first
executive director of BtS. In 2007 he became its foreign relations director, as the organization began to seek outside support for funding for its programs, in addition to providing direct aid to
refusenik members and their families. It began to gain support from some church groups in various countries, primarily in Europe, as well as some direct support from some European governments and international groups. In 2007 Mikhael Manekin became executive director of BtS. In 2012 Dana Golan was serving in this post. According to the organization's website in 2017, the current executive director is
Avner Gvaryahu.
Funding sources and issues Breaking the Silence is funded through grants, including some from sources in Europe. In 2007, the NGO received a total of
NIS 500,000. In 2008, it raised NIS 1.5 million, in 2009, around €275,000, and in 2014, NIS 3.8 million. According to the NGO Monitor website, between 2010 and 2014, foreign sources accounted for 65% of the group's funding. Breaking the Silence published its financial statements as of December 31, 2014, listing major donors who contributed more than 20,000 NIS that year. This included funding from the
New Israel Fund, amounting to NIS 229,949, In 2008, BtS told
The Jerusalem Post that the British Embassy in Tel Aviv gave the organization NIS 226,589 (c €40,000); the Dutch Embassy donated €19,999; and the
European Union gave €43,514. The ''Women Soldiers' Testimonies'' report, published in January 2010, was funded by
The Moriah Foundation, the New Israel Fund,
ICCO,
SIVMO,
Oxfam GB, the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, the EU, and the
Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. In 2014, the NGO received the majority of its funding from foreign governments. ==Relation to other activism==