For a few years now, I have been intrigued and fascinated by the Refuseniks, or, Israeli conscientious objectors, who refuse to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for religious or political reasons.

To date, their courage to object and endure prison sentences has remained relatively under-covered in the media, the most recent study addressing the movement being the slim 2005 publication Refusenik!: Israel’s Soldiers of Conscience by Peretz Kidron and Susan Sontag.

Which was why I was captivated by the following article in this weekend’s Sunday Times  by Igal Sarna, concerning Omer Goldman, daughter of the deputy chief of Mossad, and conscientious objector.

Three weeks ago, eighteen year-old Omer refused to serve in the Israeli army after visiting a Palestinian village and witnessing firsthand the dire circumstances under which the Palestinians reside.

Having already served 21 days in a military jail, this week she will be tried again, and should she refuse once more, she will enter a cycle of trials until either she, or the army, concedes.

The first action against compulsory military draft was on 28 April, 1970, when a group of high school seniors sent a letter to Prime Minister Golda Meir expressing reservations about the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the War of Attrition, and the government’s failure to avoid conflict.

Seventeen years on, a new group was formed, also made up of high school students who refused to serve in the Occupied Territories.

Assuming the name of their predecessors, Shministim (שמיניסטים), literally “twelfth graders”, they inspired a ripple effect of protest, with an estimated 3,000 Israeli high school students currently members of Shministim.

Conscientious objection has not been limited to high schoolers, however; on the outbreak of the Lebanon War in 1982, Yesh Gvul (יש גבול), or ”the border exists”, was established by reservists who refused to serve in Lebanon.

A petition, delivered to Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was signed by 3,000 reservists, some of whom were court martialed and served time in military prison for refusing to obey orders.

Today, its main role is to support ”soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature”, while engaging in other political activities, such as petitioning British courts to issue arrest warrants for IDF officers.

In January 2002, fifty-one reserve soldiers and officers signed the “Combatants’ Letter” which declared their refusal “to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.”

The letter was conducive to the group, Ometz Le’sarev    (אומץ לסרב), or, ”Courage to Refuse“, which distinguishes itself by using conspicuously Zionist discourse: “Refusal to serve in the Territories is Zionism.”

Since 2002, almost 633 combatants from all units of the IDF and from all sectors of the Israeli society signed the letter.

Based on nine points, the letter addresses the cruelty eked upon the Palestinians that is both above and beyond the call for security.

The actions undertaken by members of Courage to Refuse, and other political conscientious objectors are incredible: to act upon personal objections, pass weeks in prison cells, while challenging the views, and emotions, of family, friends, and society, is an honorable and invaluable endeavor, and one that should no longer pass uncommended.

[Image via: The First Post and RPPQUINN.]