South African COs Support Israeli Refusers

A group of former South African conscientious objectors — who publicly refused to serve in the apartheid army — have issued a letter of solidarity with Israeli activists refusing military service. Their message draws on their own history of resistance to institutional violence and extends it to today’s struggles in Israel and Palestine.

Stating their solidarity with Israeli refusers, the South African conscientious objectors write:

“Forty odd years ago, thousands of young white South African men came to a similar conclusion. We would not support the apartheid war machine and therefore refused to serve in the South African Defence Force.
…We know that you are being vilified and condemned by many of your fellow citizens as being traitors, cowards, sellouts, and fools. We were called the same. Take comfort that 40 years later, we are able to tell our children and grandchildren what we did to help end an unjust and illegal war. This too can be your legacy.”

The letter was initiated by South African Jews for a Free Palestine, in consultation with those who were involved in the End Conscription Campaign (ECC) in the 1980s — a movement that supported white South African men who declined mandatory service in the armed forces of the apartheid state.

The South African letter highlights the moral connection between refusing to serve a system of oppression then and now. It reads as a call for cross-movement solidarity: the apartheid refusers echo the contemporary Israeli activists who refuse to participate in the ongoing genocide and occupation enforced against the Palestinian people.

By linking these histories of refusal, the letter stands as a clear statement that conscientious objection remains a powerful act of conscience and political resistance.

For further reading, you can view the full letter on the website of South African Jews for a Free Palestine.