Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) has moved to bar the anti-IDF Breaking the Silence NGO from operating within Israel's school system. The decision was made after lengthy discussions with senior educators. Bennett informed the Education Ministry Director-General and leading education officials of the ruling, which will bar any organizations which incite against the IDF - including Breaking The Silence - from entering Israeli schools. "Our children are sent to the educational system in order to encourage mutual responsibility, no to harm IDF soldiers," Bennett said in a statement announcing his decision. "Breaking the Silence's activities lead to the slander of Israel abroad, as they have set themselves the objective of harming their brethren who protect us," he added. "Lies and incitement against the IDF - not in our schools." Bennett's move comes just two days after Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon (Likud) similarly banned Breaking The Silence members from entering army premises . "If the people of 'Breaking The Silence' were really bothered about our morality, as we care and pursue our moral values, they would work alongside the IDF directly, and not blacken our soldiers' image abroad," Yaalon declared at the time. The radical NGO - which is mostly funded by European and Palestinian donors - has regularly been called out for using anonymous testimonies without verifying their authenticity. Critics also question why the group opts to speak to foreign, largely anti-Israel audiences, as opposed to sharing their "findings" with Israeli military and government officials, if their aim is genuinely to enforce the IDF's "moral standards." The defense minister stressed that the hypocrisy and false propaganda against the IDF and the State of Israel ''are part of the delegitimization campaigns against us. This is why I instructed to ban the entry of members of 'Breaking the Silence' to any activity with the IDF."
