Speaking Out: Testimonial Rhetoric in Israeli Soldiers’ Dissent

Probing the interface between activism and memory-work, this study explores the sociocultural conditions, genre characteristics and action potential of speaking out asenacted by the sraeli veteran organi!ation "reaking the Silence #"$S%& "$S testimonial pro'ect combines chronologies of factual reports with narratives of (moral shock) in producing a locali!ed version of authentic (flesh witnessing)& $his move locates sraeli soldiers in the position of victimi!ed-victimi!ers, who call for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories while reshaping sraeli future collective memory through thetestimonial edifice they create& "$S activists blend the voices of perpetrator and victim in a self-reflexive and highly troubled enunciation& $his open-ended, unresolved speech-centered pro'ect is a discursive battle against politically cultivated hegemonic forgetfulness and silence