Court cancels lefty NGO lecture amid threats by right-wing activists
Police say they would be unable to protect participants in Breaking the Silence event at Beersheba bar
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The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court issued Tuesday an order prohibiting a scheduled lecture that night by members of left wing NGO Breaking the Silence to be held at Ashan Hazman, a local bar, citing threats by far-right wing activists to the owners of the site.
The order was issued following a request on the matter by the Beersheba police, after information indicating that activists planned to violently break up the event in protest of the controversial group was received. Police officers said they would be unable to provide the bar with appropriate protection if violence were to break out.
The court order stated that the bar’s owners failed to arrange the appropriate security measures for the event, and added that while the venue was officially suitable for an audience of 40 guests, upwards of 250 people had confirmed they would take part in the lecture.
Breaking the Silence, a group whose members are veteran IDF combatants who report, mostly anonymously, about alleged abuses they witnessed or took part in during their military service in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, stated following the ruling that the court was encouraging the threats made against the group by prohibiting the lecture from taking place, rather than instructing police to deal with the threats against the bar’s owners.
“The Beersheba police is giving a prize to right wing terror instead of carrying out its role of protecting the public order,” Breaking the Silence said in a statement. The group went on to stress that it would continue its operations and not be deterred by threats.
“No hate campaign and incitement of the right wing terror can stop us – we will continue to meet, both today and in the future, with anyone who cares about the future of the state and society. They will not silence us.”
A spokesman told Army Radio on Wednesday that Breaking the Silence organized two meetings at local residents’ homes on Tuesday evening instead of the canceled local bar event.
Earlier Tuesday, Beersheba police arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of threatening the owners of Ashan Hazman.
The Times of Israel Community.