Dean Issacharoff (L) and Uri Brachia
Sgt. who commanded Breaking the Silence spokesman decries 'one big lie'
Uri Brachia, who commanded Dean Issacharoff and was present when he allegedly beat a Palestinian during an arrest—a claim that was debunked—says 'this is garbage. It never happened.'
A former IDF soldier who commanded Dean Issacharoff—a spokesman for Breaking the Silence who was caught lying
about assaulting a Palestinian during his army service—said that a Palestinian appearing in a video publicized Monday by the organization to reinforce Isaacharoff's claims was not assaulted.
“The State Attorney determined that the Breaking the Silence spokesman lied. I have full confidence in the state attorney. Thousands of videos will not change the fact: Breaking the Silence is an organization that slanders IDF soldiers around the world and is based on distorting facts and telling lies,” Shaked said.
In a video statement uploaded on Monday by a member of the group Reservists on Duty, who served as Issacharoff’s sergeant during the time of the fictitious incident, Uri Brachia reiterated that the alleged episode was entirely fabricated.
Video used by Issacharoff he claimed showed him beating a Palestinian during and arrest
“I saw myself just now in that video. I didn’t participate in the previous clip posted by Reservists on Duty, but I want to state absolutely clearly that everything he (Issacharoff) is saying is garbage. Nothing like that ever happened. Everything is one big lie,” Brachia said in the brief clip.
His statement came on the heels of a video uploaded by the left-wing organization Breaking the Silence—an organization that has come under sharp criticism in Israel for receiving significant funds from anti-Israel groups and from foreign countries—which purported to show the arrest of the Palestinian who Issacharoff falsely claimed he had beaten up in full view of his superiors and was not investigated by the police.
Responding to the latest video by Breaking the Silence, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked doubled down on her conclusion that Issacharoff had not told the truth.
On Thursday, Deputy State Attorney Nurit Litman said, in a joint decision with State Attorney Shay Nitzan, that it had been decided to close the case against Issacharoff due to "lack of guilt", adding that "According to the evidence collected, the events as described by Issacharoff never took place."
Dean Issacharoff
Issacharoff insisted that another incident took place that attested to his use of excessive force during the arrest of a Palestinian.
However, Litman said it was “a later claim that did not square with the evidence in the case.”
