Support Israeli conscientious objectors

War Resisters' International supports nonviolent resisters in Palestine and Israel. We are in solidarity with conscientious objectors and those who refuse to participate in the Israeli army. Conscription is active in Israel for women and men, for Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Druze. As well as conscripting full-time recruits, reservists are also enlisted after their mandatory military service has ended. Many reservists have been drafted in 'Operation Protective Edge', the Israeli military assault on Gaza.

If you are subject to compulsory military service in Israel, and do not want to go, contact New Profile.

What you can do to support war resisters in Palestine and Israel Disseminate the statement 'We are Israeli reservists. We refuse to serve.' (published 23 July 2014) Send an email protesting the imprisonment of three conscientious objectors in Israel here Sign up to receive WRI's CO-Alerts. You will receive an email when conscientious objectors around the world are imprisoned or punished. You will be able to send an email to protest their persecution to the governments / authorities responsible  Read and distribute statement from WRI's Assembly WRI statement on the present Israeli assault on Gaza. Read the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) statement, which WRI has signed: European Union must end its military support for Israel

Originally posted at: http://afsc.org/friends/while-bombs-fall-gaza-resisting-militarism-israel

While the bombs fall on Gaza and the majority of Israeli society seems to support the continuance of the military attack on Gaza, we, as Israelis horrified by the actions of our government, find our voices lost. What can we say and do? What value might this have? How can our echoes have any impact on the situation now?

Smoke rises over Gaza city by Anne Paq

Internally in Israeli Jewish-society, it is clear that our voice remains unwelcome – protestors calling for the immediate end of the attack on Gaza have been  physically assaulted, eggs, rocks and chairs thrown at them, and some even hospitalized; celebrities who dare  to criticize the military have been  publically shunned and the majority of the elected opposition in the Knesset are aligning positions with the right-wing government. Those politicians, mostly Palestinians living in Israel, who dared to speak out have been cursed, threatened and physically dragged out of the Knesset.

Immediately and unconditionally release conscientious objector Natan Blanc from his 10th term in prison!

You can sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/immediately-and-unconditionally-r…

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Petition text:

Together, we in No to Compulsory Military Service (Egypt) and New Profile (Israel) confirm our support of peace and of conscientious objectors in both countries, re-affirming the human right to freedom of conscience, faith and self-determination.

Israeli conscientious objector Natan Blanc is how in prison for the ninth time. At the end of this spell, he will have been in prison for more than 150 days altogether.

After his seventh prison sentence, Natan appeared in front of the “Incompatibility Committee” - at his request. However, on February 24th they ruled that he could not be released from military service, and was once again scheduled to return to the Induction Centre, and hence faced another imprisonment.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pinvfnC6gdI width:400 height:300]

Natan Blanc is caught in a cat and mouse game with the Israeli authorities: he is being repeatedly released from prison, and then detained again after he refuses to be enlisted in the Israeli army. Here's why he's doing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pinvfnC6gdI

17 January 2013

Re: Prisoner of conscience Nathan Blanc

Dear Sir,

I am writing you about conscientious objector Nathan Blanc, who was first arrested on November 19th, 2012, due to his refusal to serve in the IDF, and has since served three terms of imprisonment.

“A true Israeli doesn't dodge draft!” [1] – this slogan stands at the centre of a large-scale publicity campaign in Israel. The campaign was not run by the Israeli military, and it was not aiming to add more soldiers to the dwindling ranks of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Israel has (at least de jure) universal conscription, for both men and women. But this slogan did express, and strengthen, how most Israelis understand the role of military service in the life of an Israeli – a true Israeli.

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By Idan Halili, New Profile

The story of how I got discharged from army service ended in 2005, when I was 19 years old. In this chapter I try to describe the story of my refusal, the process I went through, and its implications.

During its 99th session, the Human Rights Committee also examined the periodic report of Israel. Again, also the issue of conscientious objection came up. The Israeli delegation said that in the matter of conscientious objections, it did not have the statistics available at hand on the number of cases approved. The burden of proof was on the objector, but it was difficult to say what the burden of proof was because it was hard to determine what was in a person’s heart and mind and whether they were lying.

Human Rights Committee
Ninety-ninth session
Geneva, 12–30 July 2010

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant
Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee
Israel

CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3

Distr.: General
29 July 2010
Original: English/Spanish

(...)

The investigation against WRI's Israeli affiliate New Profile for "inciting youth to evade military service" has been closed, according to media reports. In April 2009, the police raided the homes of several New Profile activists, confiscated computers, and interrogated several activists as part of an investigation that had been opened in September 2008 (see CO-Update No 47, May 2009).