- 19 Nov 2017 18:19
#14864046
Investigation finds Breaking the Silence spokesman didn’t beat Palestinian. In September, authorities managed to track down Hassan Julani, the Palestinian that the Breaking the Silence spokesman claimed to have assaulted. While Julani confirmed that he was indeed arrested in February 2014, as Issacharoff told police, the Palestinian insisted that no violence was employed in order to apprehend him.
These EU-backed pro Palestinians NGO's getting funds from EU per "Human Rights abuses" they get. A nice way to make a living out of nothing.
These NGO campaigns can be traced to the NGO Forum at the UN’s 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which marked a major increase in the re-emergence of antisemitism, accusing Israel of perpetrating “holocausts,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide,” and declared Israel to be a “racist, apartheid state in which Israels [sic] brand of apartheid” is a “crime against humanity.”
These EU-backed pro Palestinians NGO's getting funds from EU per "Human Rights abuses" they get. A nice way to make a living out of nothing.
These NGO campaigns can be traced to the NGO Forum at the UN’s 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which marked a major increase in the re-emergence of antisemitism, accusing Israel of perpetrating “holocausts,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide,” and declared Israel to be a “racist, apartheid state in which Israels [sic] brand of apartheid” is a “crime against humanity.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/breaking- ... lestinian/
Investigation finds Breaking the Silence spokesman didn’t beat Palestinian
JUSTICE MINISTER: NGO SPOKESMAN 'IS A LIAR DEFAMING ISRAEL'
Investigation finds Breaking the Silence spokesman didn’t beat Palestinian
Hebron man denies Dean Issacharoff assaulted him; Netanyahu says decision 'proof' the group's testimonies on West Bank abuses are 'lies'
By JACOB MAGID
16 November 2017, 7:13 pm 12
Screen capture from video in which Breaking the Silence spokesman Dean Issacharoff described how he beat a passive Palestinian protester in Hebron, filmed at a rally in April, 2017. (YouTube/hakolhayehudi)
The State Attorney’s Office closed its investigation against the spokesman of the left-wing Breaking the Silence group Thursday after concluding that his confessed assault of a Palestinian man had never taken place.
Police had opened a probe against Dean Issacharoff after he claimed at a rally in April that he brutally beat the man during his service as an IDF officer in Hebron.
In September, authorities managed to track down Hassan Julani, the Palestinian Issacharoff said he had assaulted. While Julani confirmed that he was indeed arrested in February 2014, as Issacharoff had told police, the Palestinian insisted that no violence was employed in order to apprehend him.
Accordingly, the State Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that it had decided to close the assault investigation against the NGO spokesman “after the investigation revealed that the events he described did not occur.”
Breaking the Silence, which publishes the testimonies of former Israeli soldiers who report on alleged human rights abuses by the IDF in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, has raised the ire of Israeli officials and drawn criticism from those who question the authenticity of its mostly anonymous testimonies.
Responding to the State Attorney’s decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, “Breaking the Silence lies and slanders our soldiers internationally. Today, in case anyone had any doubt, this fact has received further proof. The truth wins.”
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who had approached Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit with a request to probe Issacharoff in June, also welcomed the decision to drop the case.
“It turns out that the Breaking the Silence spokesman is a liar defaming the State of Israel in front of the world,” she said in a statement Thursday. “Kudos to his comrades in his company who refused to remain indifferent and were unwilling to remain silent while he lies. It is good that the truth has come to light about this organization, which is making money at the expense of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens.”
For its part, Breaking the Silence told The Times of Israel that it had investigated the claims of its spokesman — as it says it does with every testimony it receives from former soldiers — and found witnesses who corroborated Issacharoff’s story.
In a separate statement, the NGO said it “wasn’t surprised” by Thursday’s decision, claiming that the investigation had been politically motivated from the outset. The group accused State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan of being Shaked’s “political servant.”
The statement went on to argue that the testimony by Julani had been coerced. “When Israeli policemen from Hebron remove a Palestinian from his house and interrogate him about an incident that happened three years ago, he will likely say anything he can to satisfy them and provide them with what they want,” the group argued.
Issacharoff’s attorney, Gaby Lasky, called into question the motivation of the investigators. “Throughout the entire history of Israeli occupation, a file has never been opened so quickly, the Palestinian victim has not been located so quickly and a decision to close the probe has not been made so quickly. This raises the suspicion that this a was political maneuver and not based off of relevant considerations,” she said in a statement.
Also coming to Issacharoff’s defense was one of his former comrades, Ruben Silverstone, who said he was persuaded to speak out after a few members of their company had “attempted to tarnish [Dean’s] reputation.”
In a video message posted Thursday evening, Silverstone said he recalled witnessing the incident as Issacharoff had described. “On that day we were part of a security force dealing with the riots. We did arrest an individual, and Dean did knee that individual in order to arrest him. Those are facts. This is not a lie, and I just wanted to set that straight,” he said.
During the April rally, Issacharoff recounted that his Nahal Brigade infantry unit was deployed in Hebron and would regularly confront stone-throwing Palestinian protesters. On one occasion, he related, his company commander ordered him to handcuff a Palestinian, later identified as Julani, who was passively resisting arrest.
Issacharoff described how, with his soldiers and commanding officer watching, he grabbed the Palestinian by the back of the neck and “began to knee him in the face and chest until he was bleeding and dazed” before dragging him off to be detained.
“As a soldier I never knew how to deal with someone who resists nonviolently,” Issacharoff told the rally.
A month after Issacharoff’s rally appearance, Reservists on Duty, an organization that works to “expose the real intentions” of Breaking the Silence, published a video in which former members of his platoon, including his commander, called him a liar.
In June, Shaked told Army Radio of her request for the attorney general to open a war crimes probe against Issacharoff, in what critics decried as an attempt to discredit Breaking the Silence while demonstrating that Israel investigates claims of abuse against Palestinians.
“The spokesperson of Breaking the Silence stands up and says that he himself committed a crime against a Palestinian and pounded him with blows,” Shaked said. “If that is really what happened, he should be investigated and punished. If it didn’t happen, the state needs to officially declare that it didn’t happen.”
Breaking the Silence told The Times of Israel at the time that it would not be deterred from its objectives by pressure from Shaked.
“If the justice minister believes that by hypocritically jumping on one testimony of a Breaking the Silence activist she will succeed in discouraging soldiers from testifying and opposing the occupation, she is making a big mistake,” the group said in a statement. “Because there is only one way to stop us and that is to end the occupation.”
Breaking the Silence spokesman doubles down on claim he beat a Palestinian
Breaking the Silence spokesman doubles down on claim he beat a Palestinian
Dean Issacharoff says investigation that cleared him of assault was a 'farce,' claims government fears a trial
By JACOB MAGID
17 November 2017, 9:12 pm 5
Breaking the Silence spokesman Dean Issacharoff speaks in a November 17, 2017 video statement. (Screen capture/Facebook)
The spokesman for Breaking the Silence on Friday challenged the government to fully investigate his alleged assault of a Palestinian after the State Attorney’s Office closed its probe into the matter, stating that the soldier-turned activist had made it up.
Breaking the Silence, which publishes the testimonies of former Israeli soldiers who report on alleged human rights abuses by the IDF in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, has raised the ire of Israeli officials and drawn criticism from those who question the authenticity of its mostly anonymous claims.
In a video statement posted to social media on Friday, Dean Issacharoff repeated the claim that he first made at an April rally — that while serving as an IDF officer in Hebron, he repeatedly kneed a Palestinian in the head while apprehending him during a February 2014 protest.
“But now, in a farce of an investigation, the State Attorney’s Office declared that I’m a liar,” Issacharoff said after a probe into the alleged assault was closed on Thursday.
“Why do you think they [State Attorney’s Office] did not take the testimony of Ruben, the company commander’s assistant who was standing right next to me while I kneed the Palestinians?” Issacharoff asked.
He then showed footage from a video statement released Thursday by Issacharoff’s comrade, Ruben Silverstone, in which he corroborates the NGO spokesman’s story.
“Perhaps it is because it did not fit the conclusion that the prosecution knew Ayelet Shaked wanted to receive?” the spokesman added, referring to the justice minister who had originally called for the probe to be opened against Issacharoff in June.
Shaked took up the issue after Reservists on Duty, an organization that works to “expose the real intentions” of Breaking the Silence, published a video in which former members of Issacharoff’s platoon, including his commander, called him a liar.
In September, authorities managed to track down Hassan Julani, the Palestinian that the Breaking the Silence spokesman claimed to have assaulted. While Julani confirmed that he was indeed arrested in February 2014, as Issacharoff told police, the Palestinian insisted that no violence was employed in order to apprehend him.
Accordingly, the State Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that it had decided to close the assault investigation against the activist “after the investigation revealed that the events he described did not occur.”
Responding to the State Attorney’s decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, “Breaking the Silence lies and slanders our soldiers internationally. Today, in case anyone had any doubt, this fact has received further proof. The truth wins.”
For its part, Breaking the Silence told The Times of Israel that it had investigated the claims of its spokesman — as it said it does with every testimony it receives from former soldiers — and found witnesses who corroborated Issacharoff’s story.
Its Thursday statement went on to argue that the testimony by Julani had been coerced. “When Israeli policemen from Hebron remove a Palestinian from his house and interrogate him about an incident that happened three years ago, he will likely say anything he can to satisfy them and provide them with what they want,” the group argued.
Friday’s video saw Issacharoff go on the offensive after the legal loss.
“These hands were used to beat Palestinians in the territories. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not afraid of the truth,” he said. “If I take responsibility for my violence, they will have to take responsibility for sending us to serve in the territories.”
Issacharoff then challenged the government to fully investigate the matter. “I call on the State Prosecutor’s Office and the government: let’s go to court. What do you say? Are you coming? Or are you cowards?”
Last edited by noir on 19 Nov 2017 18:39, edited 1 time in total.