The ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ jails conscientious objectors

This is an Older Post From 2013 Which Has Been Updated

Israel set to jail teenage conscientious objector for eighth time

 In the modern equivalent of Sparta, to refuse to engage in the repression of the occupation is itself a crime.   And to think they used to call the Jewish state-to-be a ‘light among the nations’!!

Tony Greenstein

Photograph: Amir Cohen/REUTERS

 Nathan Blanc has spent more than 100 days in prison over the past 19 weeks due to his refusal to enlist in Israeli army

Harriet Sherwood, Jerusalem, The Guardian, Monday 1 April 2013

Israeli soldiers on patrol: most Israelis grow up knowing that compulsory military service – three years for boys, two for girls – lies at the end of their school days. 

It is a routine Nathan Blanc knows well. At 9am on Tuesday morning, the 19-year-old will report, as instructed in his draft papers, to a military base near Tel Aviv. There he will state his objection to serving in the Israeli army. Following his refusal to enlist, Blanc expects to be arrested and sentenced to between 10 and 20 days in jail. He will then be taken to Military Prison Number 6 to serve his time. And then, following his release, the cycle will begin over again.

The reason why Blanc knows what to expect is that this will be the eighth time the teenage conscientious objector has been jailed in the past 19 weeks. Since the date of his original call-up for military service, Blanc has spent more than 100 days in prison; on one occasion, he was released on a Tuesday and re-imprisoned two days later on a Thursday.

Blanc began to consider the possibility of refusing the draft several years ago. "It was a very hard decision, it took me a long time to get to it," he says.

The turning point was Operation Cast Lead, the war in Gaza that began at the end of 2008 and ended three weeks later with a Palestinian death toll of around 1,400. In a statement issued when he was first imprisoned, Blanc said: "The wave of aggressive militarism that swept the country then, the expressions of mutual hatred, and the vacuous talk about stamping out terror and creating a deterrent effect were the primary trigger for my refusal."

The government, he said, was "not interested in finding a solution to the existing situation, but rather in preserving it … We will talk of deterrence, we will kill some terrorist, we will lose some civilians on both sides, and we will prepare the ground for a new generation full of hatred on both sides … We, as citizens and human beings, have a moral duty to refuse to participate in this cynical game."

In an interview with the Guardian, he says: "The war going on in this country for more than 60 years could have ended a long time ago. But both sides are giving into extremists and fundamentalists. The occupation was supposed to be temporary, but now no one speaks of it ending."

The Israeli state, he adds, keeps people "under our control" without democratic rights. Palestinians are subject to "collective punishment" for the actions of a few.

Most Israelis grow up knowing that compulsory military service – three years for boys, two for girls – lies at the end of their school days. "Going to the army" is a deeply ingrained, collective experience in Israeli national identity.

For some, it's an eagerly-anticipated patriotic duty; for others, a rite of passage; for a few, a difficult moral dilemma. But it is rare for people to refuse on grounds of conscience. Blanc says that since November, he has been the only conscientious objector among the 300-400 inmates in Military Prison Number 6.

Most of his friends have come to accept his position – "we had the arguments a long time ago" – and some who are currently serving as combat soldiers now say they admire it. His parents, despite some anxiety, are supportive.

Blanc rejected the option taken by some objectors of claiming a medical condition that would exempt him from military service. "I didn't want to lie. This is a point of principle."

Neither could he seek exemption of the grounds of pacifism. "The army has a narrow definition of pacifism – someone who would never apply force in any circumstances. The [IDF's] conscience committee asks tough questions, and I would not be able to say never. I think force should be used rarely, but it can't be completely ruled out."

Blanc is willing to undertake national service in lieu of the compulsory stint in the army, but thus far the military has refused to countenance this.

In a statement, the IDF said it could not comment on Blanc's specific case, but conscription was a result of Israel's security situation. Although there were limited grounds for exemption, those called up were "fully aware of their responsibilities towards the military and the consequences for failing" to carry them out.

Blanc hesitates when asked if he would describe himself as a patriot. "I feel a strong connection to this country, and I'm proud of it in many ways. But I have an aversion to nationalism."

Prison life has taken some adjustment. Blanc, who shares a tent with around 20 other prisoners, is woken for roll call around 5am and works eight hours a day in the kitchen. The inmates, who wear surplus US military uniforms, can make calls on a public phone but are forbidden to keep their mobiles. There is a prison library, but no gym.

"I have no idea how long this will go on for," said Blanc. "The bad scenario is that I will be put in front of a military court and sentenced to something like a year in prison. The better scenario is that they'll get tired of this, and will let me do national service instead."

It is hard for Blanc to see beyond the game of cat-and-mouse in which he and the IDF are currently engaged, but he says: "I don't want to deal with politics and conflict all my life." He would like to study science or technology at university.

He brushes aside a suggestion that his current stance could harm his future prospects. "I'm proud of what I'm doing. I may have caused some damage to my future, but it's minor compared to the principle at stake."

Tair Kaminer and Omri Baranes - Israel’s True Heroes

Jailed Repeatedly for Refusing to Serve in Israel’s Army of Occupation

Gaoled repeatedly – they refused to kill and maim by serving in the West Bank.  They are two young women.  Omri Baranes served 67 days in a military gaol and Tair Kaminer will have served 170 days, 6 stints in all, by the time she is finally discharged from the army.

Tair Kaminer and friend

Omri and Tair offered to do national service instead but they were told that only serving in an army that protects settlers, demolishes homes and kills Palestinians will suffice.

These are the Israelis that you won’t hear about from the Zionists who talk of 2 states, in the abstract of course, in Britain.  The hypocrites in the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel purport to support a 2 States solution in Israel/Palestine knowing full well that the call for 2 States, which will never be achieved, is a smokescreen for denying equal political and civil rights now.  The role of groups like the Jewish Labour Movement and LFI is to support the Israeli state and its role in the region.   They are allied to the Israeli Labour Party, a party which historically has been more racist than Netanyahu’s Likud.  A party which supports segregation in a Bantustan. It doesn’t even support 2 states but ‘autonomy’.

Friends accompany Tair Kaminer on January 10th to Tel Ha’Shomer military base to announce her refusal to do military service. Photo ActiveStills.

The number of Israeli Jews who genuinely support equality and peace is miniscule, just as the number of Whites in South Africa who supported peace was tiny.   Just 8% of Israelis identity with the left in Israel today according to the Pew Research Centre’s  Israel’s Religiously Divided Society.  This is not surprising in a settler colonial society based on ethno-religious supremacy.

This is all the more reason that we should salute Israel’s true heroes like Tair Kaminer and Omri Baranes.   They are the Israelis that socialists in Britain should be supporting.  They are the Israeli Jews that the Labour Party should identify with, not the racists whom the Jewish Labour Movement are associated to.  Labour should long ago have distanced itself from the world’s last remaining settler colonial state.  The fact that Israel calls itself ‘Jewish’ is no excuse for racism and worse.

Omri Baranes sat in military prison for 67 days for refusing to join the Israeli army.

IDF releases conscientious objector after 67 days in prison

Conscientious objector Omri Baranes. (Hila Aloni Ohayon)

After spending 67 days in military prison, Israeli conscientious objector Omri Baranes was officially released from IDF service on Thursday. Baranes, from the city of Rosh HaAyin in central Israel, was recognized by an IDF committee as a pacifist and was thus released on conscientious grounds. The conscientious objectors committee originally rejected her request, leading Baranes to refuse to serve in the army and sit in prison.

An IDF military prison. Nir Kafri

According to the IDF conscientious objectors who oppose all forms of violence or service in any army are eligible for exemption, as opposed to those who refuse to enlist due to their opposition to a specific army policy — such as the occupation. These kinds of conscientious objectors usually sit for a lengthy period in military prison and are usually released on grounds of unsuitability, as was recently the case with Tair Kaminer, who sat in prison for around 150 days.

“I am very happy that I finally received an exemption from the conscientious objectors committee,” Baranes told +972. “It was a long journey and perhaps I could have avoided it, but now that I am exempted it is all behind me. The first step of not joining the army is over and now I will work through different channels toward peace and equality.”

Tair Kaminer - served a record 172 days in military prison

In her original declaration to the army, Baranes wrote that “bombs and weapons are not the solution to conflicts. War carries the heavy price of victims: our soldiers are killed, as are citizens and residents from both sides. I refuse to be part of an organization that sees things in black and white, which views all the residents of an enemy country as potential enemies, and thus may harm innocent people.”

Yasmin Yablonko, an organizer for conscientious objector organization “Mesarvot,” responded to Baranes’ release:

Omri Baranes’ case clearly shows the army’s twisted worldview toward conscientious objection. Omri may be a pacifist, but the army’s attitude toward pacifism is also twisted. There is an attempt to disconnect conscientious objection from its political context as well as the Israeli reality — a reality of occupation and human rights violations.

See also Israeli Army to Release Conscientious Objector Tair Kaminer After Five Months in Prison