Israel's 'refuseniks': Meet the conscientious objectors refusing military service • FRANCE 24

now whilst the war between Israel and Hamas heads towards five months long we're reporting today on the young Israelis refusing to serve on the grounds of conscience now there are few military services considered was something of a right of passage in Israel even before the events of last October conscientious objectors often stigmatized but now at a time of War those who refus to serve are accused of national betrayal well for France 24 Andrew hilot who I'm going to be talking to here on set in just a moment and Molina houet spoke to Young Israelis who say they're ready to risk prison to uphold their principles my name is Sophia or I'm 18 years old and on February 25th I will go to the enlistment Center and I will refuse to enlist in the IDF because I refuse to take part in the operation of the Palestinian [Music] people the Israeli Society is very militaristic every conversation starts like that and the education system and the way people grow up here people grow up to be soldiers but not enlisting or not finishing your military service is much more common than people think I mean only 50% of people in Israel actually finished their military service although the vast majority of those people don't have any political motivations behind that decision and very publicly refusing to take part in something that is so integral to the Israeli society and speaking out against what Israel does can turn a lot of people against you I I have people calling me a traitor a self-hating Jew people threatening me and many ways be it injuries death rape mostly the consequences are [Music] social [Music] I think I was supportive you said I was very brave yes I definitely think so like I I don't think it's the ideal move I would have selected for her but if that's her choice then you know I'm rooting for her but uh like I'm not very optimistic about this place so I don't know if it's worth the huge personal cost for her I'm sorry yes but I think the impact is is just too little and this is just too hopeless so but it's not because I don't agree with the ideal or with the principle of the thing it's just a practical consider ation I look at it more from an like an economics kind of viewpoint what is that you know what do I put in what do I get out so um you know going to protests or whatever it's like uh not high input activity so I would do that even if I think the gain is is minuscule but going to prison for a few months that's not very minimal [Music] [Music] input my name is Av ruin I'm 20 years old I was uh a conscientious objector to the Israeli military and I sat four months in prison for my refusal to enlist of course the uh prevailing notion is that uh everyone should serve in the military well every Jewish uh male person I refused on 4th of September 2022 I show up I say I'm not in listing put me in prison and they were incredibly confused uh this doesn't really happen Happ if people don't list in the military they never show up I showed up and I said put me in [Music] prison it took a while for them to know what to do with me but eventually I was brought in front of a commanding officer the officer listed the charges he said well you're not enlisting right and I said yep and he said well I guess uh go to prison for a week I was like okay I went to prison I was in prison for a week Israeli military prison not civilian prison and then once you leave prison once your sentence ends you get another letter commanding you to show up 24 hours later to enlist in the military so I had to show up again and say I'm not enlisting this time either and they said okay go back to prison basically that song of the dance lasted for about four [Music] months I think then I had a a a slight crisis of faith when for the first time I actually saw the IDF do something good actually protecting people very quickly though we fell back to the same old rhythm of uh bombing civilians and occupying and massacring in Gaza while it was confusing for a moment to see the IDF actually do something that I support it was uh a tiny star in an Endless Night of same old same [Music] [Music] old and Andrew hilia and Molina H there and Andrew joins us here on set part of the team of course who filled that report for us um we just saw in that report didn't we Andy um only a minority of people actually refuse their military service on ground of conscious but 50% of people don't actually perform military service do they yeah and and you know it might the fact that so many people don't carry out their military service might sound surprising especially in a country where military service has always been a central pillar of national identity Men supposed to to serve at least 2 years and 8 months for women it's at least uh 2 years and the Israeli Security Service law does however provide uh exemptions um the two most known ones are for Ultra Orthodox Jews and um Arab Israelis together those two groups make up around 30% of Israel's population uh it's the demographics with the highest birth rate in Israel and their birth that their their their demographic share of the population set to grow over the next uh few decades also exemption for religious uh pregnant and married women but even you know looking Beyond these groups uh circumventing mandatory elist um is a growing Trend in Israel um many young Israelis who don't perform their military service can get exemptions on medical grounds for reasons of physical or mental health and what it means is that the overall enlistment rate has dropped from around 75% to 50% in the last 20 years that is a worrying trend for the IDF but again important to point out that those conscientious objectives make up just a small fraction of of the people who don't perform military service we're going to talk about another conscientious objetive was not in uh your report back in December tal mitnik became the first refus Nick if you like to be sentenced to prison after October the 7th tell us more about his case yeah so tal mnik he's a conscientious objector whose case got quite a lot of media attention not just in Israel but around the world it is actually by chance because his sentencing uh he was the first conscientious objector to be sentenced after uh October 7th so there was nothing planned about that but what it did do is it refocused the debate on consci conscientious objetives after uh the Hamas Massacre so back in December uh talm mitnik sentenced to 30 days in prison for refusing to serve on Tuesday earlier this week he was sentenced to another 30 days in prison for again uh refusing to serve and what's interesting is that he originally signaled his intention to refuse to serve back in August in an open letter that he wrote with other conscientious objectives and after October 7th he didn't change his mind now that's something that especially in today's climate in Israel a country on a war footing can really you know have you labeled a traitor but tal mitnik explaining when he was spoke to medor outlets what drove his decision to not to refuse to serve he told Med that he didn't believe that war was the way to achieve security again you know a a a minority view in what is quite a militaristic society and we saw in your report as well safia's father saying he supported his daughter's decision but he didn't know whether actually doing what she's doing is worth it for her in the longer term I mean what though drives them these young Israelis to do what they're doing despite the cost yeah I mean let's start with Sophia's father as you mentioned there he's an interesting case he himself served in the the IDF 35 years ago uh during the first inter father and he did say as you saw there in that report he supports his daughter's decision uh but if he himself had the opportunity he wouldn't serve uh he wouldn't perform his military service but not for grounds of conscious now that's because although he agrees with what she's doing he believes the personal risks of what she's doing are too great and the results so the impact of her actions are too little of course neither Sophia nor Evar would agree with that and what struck our team the most I think was that they both believe that serving a jail time is absolutely worth it uh they they believe that it's worth the risk of discrimination too in society amongst their friends even when it comes to looking for a job these are risks that they're prepared to take because they think that if it means they can serve as models who may influence the decision of at least one person uh then that makes it worth it because then that could set off a chain reaction that could they say could influence other people to follow suit yeah good to hear a little bit more about what some Israelis are thinking within their heads as this war continues Andy thanks very much Andrew H our reporter there who jointly filmed that report with Molina houet

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 7,647

Keywords: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel-Hamas war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, October 7, army, military, objectors, peace, refuseniks

Id: N0qONYbbfUc

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2024