After Natan Blanc, no more conscientious objectors in prison
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Minister of Defence Moshe Ya`alon). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Moshe Ya'alon,
I welcome the news that when Natan Blanc is released from military prison next week, it will be his last detention. The Israel Defense Forces Exemption Committee recommended on 30th May that he be exempt from military service.
Natan has experienced the greatest number of consecutive prison terms of any conscientious objector in Israel thus far, going to prison ten times since last November.
This repeated imprisonment is a violation of international standards. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in opinion 24/2003, came to the conclusion that the repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Israel is arbitrary, and therefore it constitutes a violation of 14 par 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - of which Israel is a signatory.
Conscientious objection to military service is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion enshrined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
I urge you to uphold international standards around conscientious objection, and stop imprisoning conscientious objectors in future.
Yours sincerely,
- Sign and send this protest email