Jewish Home faction chairwoman MK Shuli Mualem-Refaeli proposed a bill on Wednesday evening to outlaw the anti-IDF NGO Breaking the Silence. 

The explanatory notes to the bill assert Breaking the Silence is a “subversive organization acting to change Israel’s policies outside the accepted rules of the game in a country with a democratic government, through international pressure which harms the State of Israel.”

Mualem-Refaeli also noted that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel received signficant assisstance through the actions of Breaking the Silence. 

“Breaking the Silence is actively engaged in incitement against Israel and serves as an arm to the actual activities of the BDS movement,” she asserted. “This can be seen in demonstrations recently covered by the media in which members of the organization physically and verbally attack IDF soldiers during their operations in Judea and Samaria.”

“The organization attempts to present itself as a legitimate body which raises the Israeli consciousness about flaws in the IDF’s conduct toward Arab in Judea and Samaria,” Shualem-Refaeli continued.

“Breaking the Silence refused to give evidence to the IDF and chose to transfer the information to international sources, while presenting a false reality where soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Judea-Samaria residents are presented as criminals.”

The explanatory notes to the bill also address the IDF’s demands that Breaking the Silence turn over to its authorities the evidence it has accumulated, which, until now, it has refused to do, instead choosing to provide the information to international bodies. 

“Breaking the Silence is a treacherous organization that harms the State of Israel and slanders it in the world,” Mualem-Refaeli charged. “If it was their agenda to fix real problems in the IDF’s conduct, it would have done so through the proper channels rather than publish lies around the globe.” 

“I am sure all Knesset members who the understand the threat of BDS will join the bill, including members of the Zionist Union.”