Former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yuval Diskin on Wednesday night described the leftist organization Breaking the Silence as “an important part of any democracy”.
Breaking the Silence has been accused of inciting against Israel on the global stage by accusing it of "war crimes," has been caught accepting false "testimonies" allegedly from IDF soldiers, and admits it has no real vetting process for verifying which claims are true.
The organization was banned earlier this week by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon from entering IDF camps and engaging with IDF soldiers, and Education Minister Naftali Bennett later banned the extremist organization from operating within Israel's school system.
But, posting on Facebook on Wednesday, Diskin asserted that while he does not like leftist groups like Breaking the Silence or B’Tselem, he found value in the reports of these organizations because their activities have an important contribution to humanity and sensitivity, as he claimed.
"I do not like Breaking the Silence not because they are 'breaking the silence' - I do not like their activities abroad and the fact that they are not satisfied with the justice system in Israel which, to the best of my knowledge, treats any testimony or a complaint very seriously," wrote Diskin.
"I do not like the 'Public Committee Against Torture’ and am not keen on ‘B'Tselem’, and I also do not like reporters who do not love their country that much," continued the former Shin Bet chief, but added, "However, I can tell you that as head of the Shin Bet I read almost every article they wrote, and I went through all the reports of 'B'Tselem' or the 'Public Committee Against Torture'. Why? Because they provide an important mirror to what we do. Even if they are annoying, even if they are often not accurate or do not always act in a true professional manner - they still make a very important contribution and help maintain the required vigilance on the most sensitive issues."
"We are a country that is in a very complex reality in the fight against terrorism and it forces us to operate many security forces in a civilian population,” continued Diskin. “We are also a country which controls another nation in Judea and Samaria and operates various legal systems for Israeli citizens and Palestinian residents of the area.”
"So it is clear that in such a complicated scenario, when the IDF is the sovereign and it controls the civilian population which has no equal civil rights and is subject to a different law system, it is good that we have journalists and good to have NGOs that monitor the activities of the various security bodies working in the field," he wrote.
"So the impassioned and populist attack on them by various political factors is completely unnecessary. You do not have to like them but they are a very important part of any democracy," concluded Diskin.
Diskin is notorious for his public remarks against government policy. In the past, he blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as weak when it comes to the peace process with the Palestinian Authority.
Diskin previously portrayed Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Ehud Barak as “messianic” and “unfit to hold the reins of power.”