Israel

Tue

Jan

2015

A Call on IASA Alumni to Refuse Mandatory and Reserve Duty Service in the Israeli Military

New translation available

Submitted by hannah

We, Israel Arts and Science Academy alumni, former staff members, Palestinians and Jews, from different ages and diverse world-views, approach you, alumni and future alumni – dare to refuse.

As human beings and citizens we each carry...

Sat

Dec

“You Can’t Buy Paradise with Blood”

Submitted by Gary on Sat, 07/12/2024 - 00:52

Sofia Orr was the second person to refuse military service since October 7, 2024. (Oren Ziv / +972 Magazine)

An interview with Sofia Orr - Nineteen-year-old Sofia Orr was jailed for refusing to enlist in the Israeli military. In an interview with Jacobin, she explains the disturbing authoritarianism of an Israeli society that has rallied behind the massacre in Gaza.

Sat

Feb

The Israeli “Refusers”

Submitted by nnomy on Sat, 12/02/2022 - 03:54

Israeli draft resisters. Source: www.refuser.org.

When Israeli children play with toy soldiers, it’s not just a game, a fantasy or an aspiration. It is a fact of life that they will serve in the military, usually right after high school. When children hear stories from family members about their time in the military, it is not just from a father or one aunt or cousin. Nearly all (male and female) adult family members have stories to tell about their time in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). There are exemptions for Orthodox Jews, the mentally or physically unqualified, young mothers, Arab Israelis, and a few others, but it is rare for a citizen to be deemed a conscientious objector. To seek CO status in Israeli society is considered the ultimate betrayal and a process that will bring certain suffering to the individual.

Thu

Jan

60 High School Seniors Refuse to Serve in the Israeli Army Because of the Occupation

Submitted by nnomy on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 16:46

A demonstration outside an IDF enlistment center in 2018.Credit: Dror Mizrahi

Or Kashti -

The group's members say in a letter their stance comes from 'taking responsibility for our actions and their implications,' and accuse the education system of ignoring the Palestinian narrative

Sixty Israelis of eligible draft age have signed a letter declaring their refusal to serve in the military because of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Departing from previous letters of this kind, the signatories call out the country’s education system for various issues, such as encouraging enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces and emphasizing the Jewish narrative in Bible and history classes.

They also draw attention to issues they say the curriculum ignores, such as the expulsion of Arabs in 1948 and the current violation of human rights in the occupied territories.

Sat

Jan

Dozens of Israeli teens: 'We refuse to enlist out of a commitment to peace'

Submitted by antimili-youth on Sat, 06/01/2018 - 17:24

Haggai Matar, +972 Magazine

‘Testimonies of former soldiers teach us that the reality of occupation does not allow one to make a difference from within. The power to change reality does not lay with the single soldier — but with the system as a whole.’

Sixty-three Israeli teenagers have published an open letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday, declaring their refusal to join the Israeli army due to their opposition to the occupation.

Mon

Aug

Israel: Conscientious objector Noa Gur Golan imprisoned

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 07/08/2017 - 17:05

Conscientious objector Noa Gur Golan, 19, from Israel was sentenced to 30 days in military prison for her refusal to serve in the military. She has already spent 14 days behind bars last month, after refusing to enlist for the first time.

When her sentence will be over, Gur-Golan will refuse again and probably be sentenced to another term in prison.

Tue

Jul

Israel: Atalia Ben-Abba exempted from conscription

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 04/07/2017 - 14:59

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba has been exempted from military service after spending 110 days in military prison for her refusal to join army. Ben-Abba's release was on grounds of unsuitability, after her request to be recognized as a conscientious objector was rejected.

In her statement following her release, Ben-Abba said “The army can call the waiver [from mandatory conscription] whatever it wants, but the fact of the matter remains that it gave me a waiver as a result of my simple refusal to participate in a system that uses violent means to oppress another people, which has imposed an occupation upon it for 50 years, and is imposing a siege, the consequences of which are yet to be seen.”

Thu

Jun

ISRAEL: Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba imprisoned again!

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 01/06/2017 - 12:58

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba, 19, has been imprisoned for the fourth time for her refusal to serve in the IDF. With this final sentence, Atalia will spend 30 more days behind bars, adding to the 80 days she has already served in military prison.

Send your protest emails to the Israeli authorities here.

Atalia's declaration

In her declaration Atalia states:

My social responsibility as a stakeholder in our society is important to me. The people living here are important to me, all of the people living here, and it's my responsibility and the responsibility of all of us to act for a better life here. My refusal to be drafted doesn't come out of a renunciation of this responsibility, but out of the understanding that our present reality needs to be changed, and that my refusal is my way to change it.

Wed

Apr

Protests at Israel's leading university for its marketing course on the arms trade

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 19/04/2017 - 15:20

As part of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, Hamushim activists from Israel delivered hundreds of protest letters to the Technion, a public research university based in Haifa and Tel Aviv, calling on the university authorities to stop their course on arms trade, “Defense Strategy for International Markets”.

The Technion, Israel's leading academic institution, now offers this course for arms exporters and executives in the defense industry. It's designed to upgrade their knowledge and expertise specifically regarding the international arms trade, and to teach them how to form a strategy for arms exports for international markets. After demonstrating at the Tel Aviv campus where the course takes place, activists delivered protest letters signed by hundreds to the Technion on Monday this week.

The letter reads as follows:

Fri

Apr

After 130 days in prison, IDF frees conscientious objector Tamar Alon

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 07/04/2017 - 12:59

After 130 days in military prison, the Israeli army on Wednesday released conscientious objector Tamar Alon from mandatory service. Alon served six terms in military prison for her refusal to be conscripted, which she said would have contributed to the oppression of the Palestinian people. She had expressed her willingness to instead perform civilian national service, an alternative the army rejected.

“The price I paid is small compared to the price millions of Palestinians have been paying for 50 years, whose basic rights are violated on a daily basis and whose freedom has yet to be returned to them like mine was returned to me,” Alon said upon being released from prison and military service.

Read the full article here.

This is an article by Yael Marom which appears on +972 Magazine.

Thu

Jan

American Teens Get Israel-Style Military Training — at New York Sports Camp

Submitted by hannah on Thu, 12/01/2017 - 16:36

It looks like a slick military recruiting video – exciting background music pulsing in the background, soldiers in training wearing camouflage and face masks crawling through the mud as a commander urges them on, wielding rifles as they ambush an enemy in the wilderness, and, at the end, an Israeli flag waving patriotically in the background with the message to “Enlist Now” printed across the screen.

Read the full story on Forward...

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Languages

Countering Military Recruitment

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.