Israeli soldiers tell activist he is lying in hard-hitting video

An Israeli veterans organization has released a hard-hitting new video attacking Breaking the Silence—an Israeli NGO that publishes what it says are the anonymous testimonies of Israeli soldiers who participated in abuses against Palestinians—for “lying” about an incident in which a Palestinian prisoner was allegedly beaten unconscious.

The group, Reservists on Duty, said that the original Hebrew version of the video had garnered one million views, triggering their decision to release it in English as well.

“Organizations promoting BDS such as Students for Justice for Palestine use testimonies provided by Breaking the Silence to further their agenda of demonizing Israel and attempting to curtail Israel’s right to defend itself from murderous terror,” said Reservists on Duty Executive Director Amit Deri.

The video focuses on the claim of a Breaking the Silence activist, Dean Issacharoff, who claimed at a protest rally that he was compelled by his commanding officer to tie up and beat a Palestinian prisoner while his soldiers watched. “I grabbed him by the neck and started to knee him in the face and chest until he was bleeding and unconscious,” Issacharoff claimed.

The soldiers in the video, who served with Issacharoff in the army, strenuously deny his version of events. A number of them are filmed looking directly into the camera and telling Issacharoff, “you’re a liar.” Another soldier asks, “Where do you come up with this stuff?”

“Your soldiers trusted you and you spat on them,” says another.