Israel

The following list includes individuals who have been imprisoned for their nonviolent resistance to war and conscientious objection to military service.

Palestinians have been able to steadfastly face Israeli attempts at obliterating the knowledge and skills that Palestinians draw on to maintain a sustainable attachment to the land. I call this the act of eco-sumud, meaning eco-steadfastness.

One year ago today, a new phase in the generations-long conflict in Palestine began. As pacifists and antimilitarists we reject the use of violence to further one’s aims or objectives. We want to again send our solidarity to all those in the region committed to nonviolently resisting war and its causes, and we mourn alongside all those who have lost loved ones. We call on peace activists, war resisters and conscientious objectors, wherever they are in the world, to pressure their governments and the relevant organs of their states to promote peace, not war and genocide, in the Middle East and worldwide.

In recent weeks we have seen a number of significant acts of violence that have directly impacted WRI affiliates. We want to draw attention to two of them – not to compare them (they are radically different in scale, context and level of brutality), but to highlight the way different manifestations of militarism around the world are interconnected, even when they are being experienced in very different contexts nearly 14,000km apart.

I started writing this blog post after reading an article about another bombing in Gaza... but I’m also writing this after sitting in front of my computer for years, reading what feels like the same story again and again.

Following the horrendous attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7th, and the reciprocal violence by the Israeli Defence Force and settlers in the West Bank, we met with Tarteel Al Junaidi, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams based in Hebron, to find out more about the situation there, and the work her organisation is doing.

On Tuesday, 23rd January, conscientious objector Tal Mitnick, 18, from Israel was imprisoned again for his refusal to serve in the military. This is Tal’s second imprisonment and he was sentenced to 30 more days in military prison. He will have spent 60 days behind bars in total upon completion of his second term in prison.

On December 26th, Tal Mitnick, an 18-year-old from Tel Aviv, became the first Israeli conscientious objector imprisoned for their refusal to serve in the army since the start of the war in Gaza. Mitnick declared his conscientious objection at the Tel Hashomer recruitment center and subsequently received a 30-day sentence in military prison.

The WRI Executive Committee calls for the end of all violence – both the acts of war as well as the structural violence of occupation and oppression – and the release of all captives, political prisoners and hostages on both sides of the conflict in Israel/Palestine.

Watch the interviews with conscientious objectors Tal Mitnick and Sahar Vardi who took part in the peace demonstration calling for ceasefire in Gaza, held in Tel Aviv on 18th November 2023. 

WRI executive statement on the escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine, October 2023

As full scale war again returns to Israel-Palestine, we turn to the WRI founding statement, that “War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war, and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.” 

As reported by Mesarvot and the Refuser Solidarity Network, in mid-February, Shahar Schwartz and Evyatar Moshe Rubin were released after 120 days in prison and received an exception to military service. However, the refuser Nave Shabtay Levin (19 y/o) is still incarcerated, after being sentenced to an additional 45 days in prison.