We were soldiers in a wide variety of units and positions in the Israeli military—a fact we now regret, because, in our service, we found that troops who operate in the occupied territories aren’t the only ones enforcing the mechanisms of control over Palestinian lives. In truth, the entire military is implicated. For that reason, we now refuse to participate in our reserve duties, and we support all those who resist being called to service.
The Israeli Army, a fundamental part of Israelis’ lives, is also the power that rules over the Palestinians living in the territories occupied in 1967. As long as it exists in its current structure, its language and mindset control us: We divide the world into good and evil according to the military’s categories; the military serves as the leading authority on who is valued more and who less in society—who is more responsible for the occupation, who is allowed to vocalize their resistance to it and who isn’t, and how they are allowed to do it. The military plays a central role in every action plan and proposal discussed in the national conversation, which explains the absence of any real argument about non-military solutions to the conflicts Israel has been locked in with its neighbors.
The Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are deprived of civil rights and human rights. They live under a different legal system from their Jewish neighbors. This is not exclusively the fault of soldiers who operate in these territories. Those troops are, therefore, not the only ones obligated to refuse. Many of us served in logistical and bureaucratic support roles; there, we found that the entire military helps implement the oppression of the Palestinians.
Many soldiers who serve in non-combat roles decline to resist because they believe their actions, often routine and banal, are remote from the violent results elsewhere. And actions that aren’t banal—for example, decisions about the life or death of Palestinians made in offices many kilometers away from the West Bank—are classified, and so it’s difficult to have a public debate about them. Unfortunately, we did not always refuse to perform the tasks we were charged with, and in that way we, too, contributed to the violent actions of the military.
During our time in the army, we witnessed (or participated in) the military’s discriminatory behavior: the structural discrimination against women, which begins with the initial screening and assignment of roles; the sexual harassment that was a daily reality for some of us; the immigration absorption centers that depend on uniformed military assistance. Some of us also saw firsthand how the bureaucracy deliberately funnels technical students into technical positions, without giving them the opportunity to serve in other roles. We were placed into training courses among people who looked and sounded like us, rather than the mixing and socializing that the army claims to do.
The military tries to present itself as an institution that enables social mobility—a stepping-stone into Israeli society. In reality, it perpetuates segregation. We believe it is not accidental that those who come from middle- and high- income families land in elite intelligence units, and from there often go to work for high-paying technology companies. We think it is not accidental that when soldiers from a firearm maintenance or quartermaster unit desert or leave the military, often driven by the need to financially support their families, they are called “draft-dodgers.” The military enshrines an image of the “good Israeli,” who in reality derives his power by subjugating others. The central place of the military in Israeli society, and this ideal image it creates, work together to erase the cultures and struggles of the Mizrachi, Ethiopians, Palestinians, Russians, Druze, the Ultra-Orthodox, Bedouins, and women.
We all participated, on one level or another, in this ideology and took part in the game of the “good Israeli” that serves the military loyally. Mostly our service did advance our positions in universities and the labor market. We made connections and benefited from the warm embrace of the Israeli consensus. But for the above reasons, these benefits were not worth the costs.
By law, some of us are still registered as part of the reserved forces (others have managed to win exemptions or have been granted them upon their release), and the military keeps our names and personal information, as well as the legal option to order us to “service.” But we will not participate—in any way.
There are many reasons people refuse to serve in the Israeli Army. Even we have differences in background and motivation about why we’ve written this letter. Nevertheless, against attacks on those who resist conscription, we support the resisters: the high school students who wrote a refusal declaration letter, the Ultra orthodox protesting the new conscription law, the Druze refusers, and all those whose conscience, personal situation, or economic well-being do not allow them to serve. Under the guise of a conversation about equality, these people are forced to pay the price. No more.
Yael Even Or
Dalit Baum
Roi Basha
Liat Bolzman
Lior Ben-Eliahu
Peleg Bar-Sapir
Moran Barir
Efrat Even Tzur
Tal Aberman
Klil Agassi
Ofri Ilany
Eran Efrati
Dalit Baum
Roi Basha
Liat Bolzman
Lior Ben-Eliahu
Peleg Bar-Sapir
Moran Barir
Yotam Gidron
Maya Guttman
Gal Gvili
Namer Golan
Nirith Ben Horin
Uri Gordon
Yonatan N. Gez
Bosmat Gal
Or Glicklich
Erez Garnai
Imri Havivi
Gal Chen
Shir Cohen
Gal Katz
Menachem Livne
Amir Livne Bar-on
Gilad Liberman
Dafna Lichtman
Yael Meiry
Amit Meyer
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Interesting the section about sexual discrimination and harassment in the IDF. Fortunately much of Israel’s Jewish population is recognizing that the Netanyahu government is nearly as fascist as Obama’s.
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Yeah, I hadn’t viewed that as an IDF issue either. I guess when power is being abused, that most fundamental of its expressions finds fertile soil.
I think it was just under 25% of Israelis who actually voted for Netanyahu.
A massive global immigration of dissidents could reverse Israeli policy almost overnight. They’d have to change the Constitution to refuse them entrance…
I have a hard time viewing this government as Obama’s. I just don’t think he’s ever had much real power re foreign policy. I’d call ours an imperialist non-democratic, violently coercive government. But I don’t want to use the word facist because we might soon really need it!
The Palestinians, though: yeah, they might just as well be living under Mussolini
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Hmm…the top comment belongs with Edwin’s question, scroll down.
Sorry, this is an onoing issue between WordPress and Yours Truly.
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Edwin,
I’m not sure, but I think one answer lies in global pressure on Israel from the millions of Jews worldwide whom it purports to represent and defend, They face tremendous pressure, but their numbers are organized and growing, Check the Twitter account of the heroic American Jewish lawyer, Stanley Cohen, currently in prison.
I know my speech, I mean comment, above is somewhat off-topic re, your question – but I’m interested in your response.if you’re so inclined.
Peace,
Claire the Pagan
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To see beyond the veil and perceive The Other has a fellow human being is, in our world today, an act of courage punishable by imprisonment and death.
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That’s so true, thanks, Rosaliene,
Yet it seems that regardless of how the cast of characters changes, essentially the same people keep benefiting, – no matter who is cast as the current most alien Other.
For example, you don’t have to be a historian to understand that Zionism developed within the context of many centuries of violent, horrific anti-Semitism, culminating in a state-sponsored genocide whose ideology remains viable in significant demographics: The Ukraine (spelling?), France, Uraguay, Paraguay, the American Pacific Northwest ,,do you know where else?
That that kind of racism should be reproduced by its victims after WWII, when the world’s most traumatised Semitic people were given power over the world’s poorest Semitic people (ultimately protecting US oil interests) should come as a surprize to no one.
Does that excuse Israel?
Not for a minute.
But it does make us all responsible for rejecting out of hand the conflation of Judaism with Zionism, whether claimed by Jews, Muslims, or their respective fairweather Christian friends,
Since the destruction of the Palestinians is essentially a proxy war between the USA and the MidEast, we can’t expect the US to intervene. Thus,it will take global resistence to American agressionto prevent further genocide.
What do you think?
P.S. Thanks for letting me give a speech (l:
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I can’t help wondering, what would happen to those idealist young people. I have the feeling they are willing to pay the price, but what would the price be?
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I think is is/can be pretty high. They often go to prison and are ostracized and can’t get jobs, etc
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Damn…
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Yeah. They need support..
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And how do we do that?
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