The organization’s stated mission is to “break the silence” of IDF soldiers who have returned to civilian life in Israel, and to “discover the gap between the reality which they encountered in the [occupied] territories, and the silence which they encounter at home.” Since 2004, Breaking the Silence has been running the project Soldiers Speak Out, which has involved the collection of hundreds of testimonies from “those who have, during their service in the IDF, the Border Guard, and the Security Forces, played a role in the Occupied Territories.” By publishing soldiers’ accounts, Breaking the Silence hopes to “force Israeli society to address the reality which it created,” and to face the truth about “abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property.”
Breaking the Silence raises awareness to certain aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while also calling attention to the conflict taking place in the minds of Israeli soldiers. This second conflict is not centered on political issues, but rather on the struggle between the individual’s subservience to the state and his status as a sovereign person courageously committed to protecting basic human rights and values.
The testimony presented in this video is given by the artist Adar Aviam, one of the artists participating in the exhibition.

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