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AVAILABLE AT ALL SA BOOK STORES:
"Our Harsh Logic", a book by "Breaking the Silence", is available at all major South African book outlets, including:
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INVITE: Ex-Israeli soldier, Yehuda Shaul of "Breaking the Silence", to give public lectures in South Africa on Israeli Defence Force's abuse of Palestinians
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The Cape Town based human rights organization, Open Shuhada Street, is hosting two public events with Yehuda Shaul: an ex-Israeli soldier, former sergeant in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and now one of the founders of the Israeli NGO and peace organization, "Breaking the Silence".
Monday 19 August Event
Time: 18h00
Venue: Central Methodist Church Mission
Wednesday 21 August Event
Time: 13h00
Venue: LS2D, Leslie Social Science Building
Shaul will be speaking on his experience in the IDF as well as on the testimonies of former Israeli soldiers, including harrowing accounts of "Israeli abuse of Palestinian civilians at checkpoints, evicting and then occupying a Palestinian family’s comandeered home and Israeli soldiers posing for trophy photos with Palestinian corpses". Attached to this email find an Adobe PDF document with extracts from testimony of an ex-Israeli soldier who has chosen to speak out on his experiences in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
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BACKGROUND TO YEHUDA SHAUL & "BREAKING THE SILENCE"
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Yehuda Shaul (29) was born and raised in Jerusalem in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family. After graduating from a Yeshiva high-school he served in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) as commander and platoon sergeant in the 50th battalion of the IDF's Nahal Brigade from 2001 to 2004. In 2004, Yehuda founded the "Breaking the Silence" NGO with a group of fellow veterans. Shaul currently serves as the organization’s Co-Director and Foreign Relations Officer (see this 30 minute documentary: http://tinyurl.com/yrdzss)
"Breaking the Silence" is an Israeli non-governmental and peace organization that records Israeli soldiers' testimonies of Israeli human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (see: http://tinyurl.com/nlq8eue). According to its website, by publishing Israeli soldiers' accounts, "Breaking the Silence", hopes to force Israeli society to address the reality which it has created and face the truth about Israel's abuse towards Palestinians, looting of Palestinian resources, and destruction of Palestinian property that is familiar to virtually all Israeli soldiers. The Israeli government has in recent years tried to clamp down on NGOs like "Breaking the Silence" (see: http://tinyurl.com/p4ymb9x)
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 Yehuda Shaul and "Breaking the Silence" remind us South Africans of the brave white anti-apartheid activists who in the 1980s broke rank, joined, for example, the "End Conscription Campaign" and refused to serve in Apartheid's South African Defence Force (SADF).
Shaul and "Breaking the Silence" also remind us that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), like Apartheid's South African Defence Force (SADF), serve no "defence" purpose, only the purpose of maintaining an unjust Israeli regime and its apartheid policies against the indigenous Palestinians.
The testimonies from "Breaking the Silence" further give reason why all peace-loving peoples should support the indigenous Palestinian people (together with their progressive Israeli allies) in boycotting Israel until Israel abides to international law, respects human rights and engages in fair negotiations for a just peace similar to what occurred and we achieved (with international support) in South Africa.
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