Refusal to serve in the Israeli military: Encyclopedia II - Refusal to serve in the Israeli military - Overview

Refusal to serve in the Israeli military - Overview

Although Israel has a universal draft, many Israelis do not serve in the military for a number of reasons. Israeli Arabs are not drafted, though they may enlist, and small numbers serve voluntarily. Haredi Jews are exempt so long as they study in yeshivas, based on an arrangement worked out with David Ben-Gurion in 1948, though small numbers of them do serve. Orthodox women can avoid service in the military by doing national service work instead. Also, many people who are "unfit" or "unqualified", either mentally or physically, are also exempt. Military service can often be postponed for further education—either college or university, or technical studies. Finally, a number of people refuse to serve because of pacifist views, or refuse certain orders based on their disagreement with government policy.

Some distinguish between refusal to serve in the military because of a pacifist world view that rejects any manifestation of violence and encompasses a refusal to submit to compulsory military service in any form, and partial refusal to serve, such as the Courage to Refuse who "do their reserve duty wherever and whenever they are summoned, but refuse to serve in the occupied territories."[1] The diverse range of opinions regarding the refusal to serve is the reason why there is no single umbrella organization that encompasses all groups of refuseniks. While most instances of refusal to serve have historically been found among left-leaning Israelis, there is a rapidly expanding movement among right-wing soldiers to refuse orders to remove Israeli civilians from settlements in the West Bank (and formerly in the Gaza Strip).

Contemporary instances of refusal to serve occur among individuals and in groups. Some claim that the rise in instances of soldiers refusing to serve, as well as the gradual shift in public opinion regarding the phenomenon, has been influenced by the growing politicization of the IDF.

The issue of refusal to serve is now the middle of a hot, passionate and emotional debate within the Israeli public.

In February 2004, Israeli Chief of Personnel Major-General Gil Regev told a Knesset committee that the number of soldiers refusing to serve in the territories had dramatically decreased in 2003 despite the increase in the number of high-profile refusals. He said that 18 reserve soldiers and 8 officers had been imprisoned for refusal in 2003 compared to 100 reservists and 29 officers in 2002, a decrease of 80%. Members of the refusers' organization Yesh Gvul claimed in reply that actually 76 people, including 11 officers, had been jailed for refusal in 2003. They also said that 79 soldiers and 18 officers had added their names to the Courage to Refuse letter in 2003, and that the number of high-school refuseniks had risen to 500.

The first well-known instance of an individual refusing to serve in the IDF occurred in 1954 when Amnon Zichroni, a lawyer, asked to be released from military service as a pacifist. Initially, then Minister of Defense Pinhas Lavon refused to release Zichroni, though he was eventually discharged from the army reserves.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki