This is an instructive story of how mainstream Australian Jewish groups are petrified that a) the public will hear critical and truthful views about Israeli behaviour in the West Bank and b) a desire to “protect” Jews from even understanding what Israeli occupation means.

A feature appeared in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald last week by Ruth Pollard which detailed shocking new allegations by IDF personnel and their behaviour against Palestinian children. Murdoch’s Australian also covered the revelations. The Australian Jewish News was outraged, providing a space for Zionist spokespeople to damn all the allegations:

“Another Israel-bashing headline”, “a flagrantly one-sided piece” and “threadbare and unsubstantiated …­allegations”. Just a handful of comments from community leaders and the Israeli embassy this week following the extensive coverage in the Australian media of a report issued by Israeli veterans group Breaking The Silence (BTS) about the treatment of Palestinian children at the hands of the IDF.

A statement was released by Danny Lamm, President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry:

“How sad it is that once-great broadsheets like the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have been reduced to featuring crude propaganda on their front page. Their story alleging maltreatment of children by the IDF relied on statements supposedly made by ex-IDF personnel to the veterans’ group ”˜Breaking the Silence’. But the thrust of these statements is a rehash of reports published in previous months by a group of British lawyers who visited Israel’s military courts and by the NGO, Defence of Children International, and they appear to be based on the same or similar sources. The statements published by ”˜Breaking the Silence’ were characterised by the Herald and the Age as “testimonies” but in fact they are anonymous, non-specific as to times and places, devoid of critical detail and untested by any kind of cross-questioning. The photographs of crying children lack any detailed explanation or context and are calculated to play to the emotions of readers, not to inform. It is impossible for the IDF, or any organisation, to investigate allegations of such a generalised nature, especially while Breaking the Silence insists on maintaining the anonymity of all of its sources and with-holding other relevant information. One suspects that their complaints are not being made with a view to having them investigated and… addressed but solely for their propaganda effect. If Breaking the Silence is genuine in its complaints and is not simply seeking to pursue a political agenda, it has a moral duty to make all relevant material available to the office of the Attorney General or the Military Advocate, who have repeatedly offered to investigate any complaints as soon as they have something concrete to investigate. They have never shrunk… from investigating, and where appropriate prosecuting, specific allegations of wrong-doing that have been referred to them. Sadly, many Australians will have read this story in a superficial way or merely viewed the headline and the photographs. They are being left with the false, indeed ridiculous, impression that the IDF is a serious abuser of children’s rights, indeed the most serious abuser of such rights in the Middle East. There is not a word in the story about the systematic indoctrination of Palestinian children at school and through the media and the deliberate use of children as combatants and terrorists by armed Palestinian organisations. It was also telling that a genuine and substantiated report about a massacre of approximately 300 civilians by the Asad regime in Syria the previous day was relegated to a minor story on page 7 of the Herald and was unaccompanied by photographs of dead and dying Syrian… children, which are distressingly easy to find online.”

Other Jewish “leaders”, including AIJAC head Colin Rubenstein and Labor MP Michael Danby, added more sound and fury:

Michael Danby told J-Wire: “I felt The Age coverage was worse than the Sydney Morning Heralds as their headline was more biased and the graphics used were larger and more emotive.” Speaking at the opening in Melbourne of the Israeli Film Festival, Danby said: “I was not surprised to see the Fairfax share price plummeting. On days when hundreds of civilians were being killed in Syria, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald were rehashing unverified rehashed propaganda against Israel.” He appealed to Greg Haywood, the chairman of Fairfax to explain why his chain gave such prominence to this story.” Colin Rubenstein:… It was profoundly disappointing to see Australia’s leading broadsheets – the Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and Age -… so uncritically repeating the latest rehashed… propaganda from the controversial left-wing Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence. There is little new information in the report. It is essentially a repackaging of some 30 existing so-called “testimonies” of former soldiers from the organisation’s files in a politicised attempt to portray the IDF as systematic abusers of Palestinian children, and gain headlines. Moreover, of the 30 testimonies cited in the report, about half identify no actual wrong-doing – only that some soldiers were uncomfortable with certain perfectly legal tactical decisions such as conducting late-night arrest raids on homes. Even in the unlikely event that the 15 or so incidents of alleged wrong-doing, occurring over six years, in this report were fully confirmed, this would not alter the fact the IDF remains probably the most moral army in the world. This is not merely sloganeering but a reality based upon the rigorous standards it imposes upon itself and the self-policing mechanisms in place.

Breaking the Silence then released a response to all the criticisms:

In response to a recent publication by the Israeli veteran organization Breaking the Silence, Dr Danny Lamm, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, blatantly attacked us – veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces -… calling the publication “crude propaganda””¦.… From Dana Golan [Executive Director – Breaking the Silence] Dr Lamm insinuates that the testimonies published by Breaking the Silence are not credible, suggesting that they are manufactured by the organization… “solely for their propaganda effect.” The anonymity of the testimonies and the fact that they are allegedly “untested by any kind of cross-questioning” is his sole evidence. Breaking the Silence is an organization of over 850 Israeli veterans – male and female combat soldiers and officers who served in the IDF in the harshest days of the last decade. Our publications meet the highest standards of investigative journalism. All unusual and exceptional testimonies must be corroborated by two independent sources before publication; and anonymity, as every journalist knows, is a condition for exposure of wrong-doing. As any visitor to the website can see, dozens of veterans have in fact testified without anonymity, their names and faces revealed on camera. Now we veterans wonder how someone who purports to be a supporter of Israel can make such insidious allegations against us, questioning our loyalty and integrity. How can someone who is supposed to have our backs then attack us from behind? From where, we ask, does Dr Lamm draw the… chutzpah… to sling mud at us, soldiers who were lying in the mud to protect the country in whose name he swears from afar?… We wonder what motivates a Diaspora Jew pretending to love Israel to discredit us, veterans who continue to risk our lives in its defense and give our time and energy to fortify its moral stature. … Concern for Israel and its democracy cannot be the factor driving an assault on its civil society. Attacks on Israeli veterans are certainly not motivated by love for Israel and its people, for these veterans are Israel. Dr Lamm’s assault, it appears, must have a different set of motivations. Instead of serving his community and lending support to Israel, he serves his political masters. A vocal opponent of the peace process, it seems that Dr Lamm has forgotten his place as a Diaspora community leader.… We would never dare interfere with the internal affairs of his… community,… let alone in the audacious way in which Lamm interferes in ours. While the question of whether and to what degree Diaspora Jews should advocate their views on internal Israeli affairs is an open one, beating on Israelis of other political convictions is not.… Lamm’s armchair Zionism pontificating from afar, while true Israelis put their lives on the line, imposes certain restraints on his engagement. A decent person would regard this also as reason for some humility in opinion. It is precisely because we have been on the front lines that we understand that the future of our country depends on its moral… fortitude no less than on its military might. It is no wonder that Lamm fails to recognize this as surely the view from Australia is different from that of real-life Israelis who realize the Zionist ideal with their sweat and blood and not merely with their job titles.… Zionism, for us, is about the willingness to make bold sacrifices for the security and future of the Jewish state. For impostors like Lamm, it is an instrument for promoting a political agenda, the consequences of which we will have to bear, not him. Representatives of Breaking the Silence on behalf of our members, Lieutenant Dana Golan – Border Patrol (Executive Director, Breaking the Silence) Captain Mikhael Manekin – Golani Infantry Brigade Lieutenant Noam Chayut – Nahal Infantry Brigade Lieutenant Oren Kalisman – Special Forces, Paratroopers First Sergeant Yehdua Shaul – Nahal Infantry Brigade First Sergeant Avihai Stollar – Kfir Brigade First Sergeant Tal Wasser – Oketz First Sergeant Achiya Schatz – Duvdevan First Sergeant Ayal Kantz – Special Forces, Nahal Brigade First Sergeant Nadav Weiman – Special Forces, Nahal Brigade First Sergeant Shachar Zemach – Special Forces, Nahal Brigade First Sergeant Hillel Cohen – Combat Engineer First Sergeant Guy Klein – 7th… Armored Brigade First Sergeant Yoni Levi – Special Forces, Givati Brigade First Sergeant Gil Hillel – Sachlav, MP

The responses by the Jewish establishment are nothing short of meaningless intolerance. And paranoia. Increasingly the reality of Israeli crimes are entering the mainstream and all they can do is bleat about propaganda and Israeli morality. Fewer and fewer people believe this in 2012. The Breaking the Silence comments are interesting and strong though personally I’d rather the defence of Zionism wasn’t in there. Regardless, it’s an important organisation and challenges the concept, still laughably used by Israel defenders, that the IDF is the “most moral army in the world.”

I thought this would be the end of the story but then this week I received an email (I’ve published it all below, removing any relevant names) that reveals attempts by the supposedly more liberal wing of the Jewish community to encourage people not to attend Israel/Palestine related talks in Australia because their minds must be corrupted. Or something. It reeks of bigotry and fear.

It’s no wonder many people, including me in a new book After Zionism, now campaign for a wholesome challenge to the Zionist and Jewish communities. If even listening to different points of view from Israel is too much for supposedly sensitive Jewish ears, believing that reform of Israel and the Diaspora is possible, and the occupation ended, is dangerously delusional thinking. Zionism itself is the problem here: