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A screenshot from the www.soldiersspeakout.com website featuring a medic talking about her experience.
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Last update - 17:26 16/07/2009
IDF soldiers give testimonies to counter Gaza war crimes claims
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Tags: testimonies, Israel news 

A newly released collection of anonymous accusations of alleged human rights abuses by Israeli soldiers in Gaza has prompted reservists who served there to deliver signed, on-camera counter-testimonies about Palestinian terrorists' use of Gazans as human shields.

The dozen English-language testimonies were delivered in response to a report by Breaking the Silence, an organization which says it is attempting to collect accounts by Israel Defense Soldiers in order to expose "moral corruption" within the IDF, as explained in the movement's Website.
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The accusations were made by anonymous people who said they were reserves soldiers, and whose faces were blurred in filmed talks. Some recounted hearing from other soldiers that the IDF used Palestinians as human shields during Operation Cast Lead in January. Others said they recalled destroying Palestinian property.


"We came upon an ambulance from a local children's hospital," Pinchas Sanderson from Jerusalem recounted in an American accent in his counter-testimony. The 29-year-old U.S.-born student is one of three native English-speakers who appear on the new website www.soldiersspeakout.com.

"It was suspicious because there was a very old lady in the ambulance of a children's hospital. Inside we found three RPG rocket launchers," he said. "We couldn?t believe someone would use an ambulance to move them."

Johannesburg-born Jeremy Lipshitz, 24, recounted in a South African accent how his unit discovered a Hezbollah hideout in Lebanon but was ordered to hold fire. Lipshitz, a reserves Intelligence Corps field combatant who settled in Ra'anana after making aliyah six years ago, said it was because the terrorists were using civilians as human shields."

Shane Goodson, a 23-year-old reserves paratrooper from Herzliya who in 2005 also came to Israel from South Africa, Pretoria, described how the IDF is made up of "ordinary Israelis with families, jobs and a respect for family values."

Another testimony by an Israeli-born commando soldier talks about him ordering his soldiers to clean up a Palestinian home after they were in it, and how they collected items from their own food parcels from home and gave them to the family.

The SoldiersSpeakOut group, which encourages soldiers to send in their filmed testimonies via the video sharing site Youtube, describes itself as "a grassroots movement that wants to show the voices of real Israelis."

The new movement is supported by the international Israel-advocacy group StandWithUs, which specializes in high-tech quick response projects in English to what is perceives as anti-Israel bias.

"Breaking the Silence are misleading in their name and their aim," remarks U.K.-born StandWithUs Israel Director Michael Dickson. "There is no silence to break. Israeli society is open, democratic and self critical. This one-sided and shoddy report fails to stress the context of the war as a battle against Hamas terrorists hiding behind civilians."

"All testimonies collected by Breaking the Silence are by combat soldiers whose names and full details are known and documented by the organization," said Ran Goldstein, a spokesperson for Breaking the Silence. "We do not reveal their details as per their request."

Goldstein said the organization encourages any soldier to come forth with their testimony, be it for Breaking the Silence or for Soldiers Speak Out. "But violent reactions to testimonies, such as we've seen from the army, are not acceptable," he added.

Dickson added that Breaking the Silence "omits names, ranks and facts" and the fact that the group receives funding from the EU and the British Embassy in Tel Aviv "merits investigation." Goldstein said is response that all donations to his nonprofit are "transparent and available for inspection."
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  1.   Damage control in action. 17:44  |  Joe 16/07/09
  2.   The Good, Bad and Ugly 17:48  |  Joan 16/07/09
  3.   At last some balance. 18:11  |  richelle 16/07/09
  4.   Isn`t it interesting 18:30  |  Arie 16/07/09
  5.   Who Supports Breaking the Silence? 18:32  |  Makevet 16/07/09
  6.   Unonimous testimonials seems like a froud 19:08  |  Ron 16/07/09
  7.   ISRAEL`S DETRACTORS FUNDED BY UK EMBASSY 19:31  |  Ian 16/07/09
  8.   :: Pro-Israeli propaganda 19:41  |  Matty Groves 16/07/09
  9.   Marty can`t find reasons 21:54  |  Ki`emli 16/07/09
  10.   Actually Joe and Matty, its part of an open dialogue 23:37  |  Jacob Blues 16/07/09
  11.   Soldiers Speak out = Propaganda | Breaking Silence = Truth 23:38  |  Marc Leb 16/07/09
  12.   OMG they found weapons in a ambulance 23:39  |  Marc Leb 16/07/09
  13.   Uh Matty, you speak so authoritatively 23:40  |  Scharker Yid 16/07/09
  14.   Who supports BtS 23:55  |  Jerry Haber 16/07/09
  15.   Context explains all 23:58  |  Jerry Haber 16/07/09
  16.   I am sure that many, if not most, Israely soldiers behaved 00:22  |  Observer 17/07/09
  17.   I don`t even see counter testimony to Breaking the Silence 00:29  |  Marc Leb 17/07/09
  18.   Standwithus - same rhetoric but it turned out IDF hid behind kids 00:31  |  Marc Leb 17/07/09
  19.   #1&6 You are talking about the US military - NOT the ISRAELI !!! 00:37  |  world observer 17/07/09
  20.   Comic cuts 00:42  |  Colin Wright 17/07/09
  21.   a grassroots movement? 00:57  |  Johan 17/07/09
  22.   Don`t you love it when posters like Matty ... 01:26  |  Jasper 17/07/09
  23.   all bad? 01:43  |  robk 17/07/09
  24.   Major part of the discussion iscompletely off mark 01:52  |  Richard 17/07/09
  25.   soldier testimonies. 04:16  |  dr.joji cherian 17/07/09
  26.   Makevet - Who Supports Solodiers Speak Out? 11:06  |  CJ 17/07/09
  27.   So the truth is anonymous,the lie is signed? 11:12  |  Hastaroth 17/07/09
  28.   Ki`emli - So we`re told by the same folk who have lied for 62 yea 11:16  |  CJ 17/07/09
  29.   Scharker Yid - ONLY???? Try the same % on New York 11:37  |  CJ 17/07/09
  30.   How much is the IDF paying these `soldiers` for their stories? 16:18  |  Ezra 17/07/09
  31.   Israeli society is open, democratic&selfcritical.- unless ur arab 16:20  |  ZED 17/07/09
  32.   Is there a difference between 18:53  |  Murray of Montreal 17/07/09
  33.   Without third party confirmation these stories are worthless 22:01  |  jens 17/07/09
  34.   #28 CJ - You left out CRITICAL details 22:19  |  Ibn Musa 17/07/09
  35.   Ezra - Get the anonymous soldiers to sign 22:24  |  Ibn Musa 17/07/09
  36.   Matty Groves (#8) ``The entire world knows`` 23:11  |  Gil 17/07/09
  37.   Cooperating with the UN investigations. 00:43  |  James Hovland 18/07/09
  38.   #12 Marc Leb - You thought wrong 01:32  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  39.   #29 CJ - I must correct you again 01:57  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  40.   #26 CJ - Don`t concern yourself with money 01:59  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  41.   #18 Marc Leb Your memory fails you 06:31  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  42.   Ibn Musa - Res 181 was an opportunity, not a contract 08:52  |  CJ 18/07/09
  43.   Ibn Musa - basic tenet of Judaism is ..do not unto your neighbour 08:58  |  CJ 18/07/09
  44.   Durson should read this 08:58  |  RME 18/07/09
  45.   Murray of Montreal - propaganda 09:03  |  CJ 18/07/09
  46.   #36 CJ - Survival instinct is PARAMOUNT 16:16  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  47.   #38 CJ - 16:19  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  48.   #36-2 CJ - You screwed up the Tenets 16:47  |  Ibn Musa 18/07/09
  49.   Ibn Musa #34 181 was a suggestion, not a mutual agreement 06:55  |  CJ 19/07/09
  50.   2ND TRY CJ - It was a UN `RESOLUTION" 17:59  |  Ibn Musa 20/07/09
  51.   The big distinction 07:06  |  DB 21/07/09
  52.   No#38 IBN MUSA-no-one can `make` the blind man see... 20:03  |  FARREL 06/08/09
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