Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said on Wednesday that the anti-occupation veterans group Breaking the Silence was an enemy of Israel.

In an interview with Army Radio, Hotovely commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to cancel his meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, after he refused to cancel his meeting with Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem, saying "Our friends in the world cannot hurt the State of Israel. The truth is that a diplomatic message was passed on to the Germans, which said that we were not interested in such a meeting taking place because the organization in question was an organization that is based on lies and harms Israel."

"Yesterday, I posted a video that said that I am not willing that my brothers, my husband, all the people who surround us will be in the crosshairs of unethical people and war criminals. Our wars are just, and in all these wars we face one enemy called Hamas and a second enemy that is those organizations."

When asked by the interviewer if she really meant that Breaking the Silence were enemies of Israel, Hotovely answered: "Yes, it is an enemy that harms Israel. Unequivocally."

Pressed to defend her remarks, the deputy minister said: "The struggle for Israel's image is one of the most important struggles we have with foreign interties and Breaking the Silence, based on lies, is trying to besmirch Israel's good name, as well as the IDF's."

Breaking the Silence is an Israeli organization that collects Israeli soldiers' testimonials concerning their military service.