SUPPORT ISRAELI CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
In December 2023, 18-year-old Israeli Tal Mitnick was sentenced to 30 days for refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli military. The same week that Tal refused for the third time to report to the military and received a third term in prison, he was joined by fellow teenager Sofia Orr. “I reject participating in the violent policies of oppression and apartheid that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian people, especially now during the war,” she said. Now, Tal and Sofia have been joined by Ben Arad. Read Ben’s Refusal Statement.
It’s not the sentences Tal, Sofia, and Ben are enduring that make their actions exceptional. They have options. In fact, 12 percent of conscripted Israelis get out of service through notoriously easy-to-obtain mental health exemptions. Instead of the 10-year terms that Russian draft evaders face, even when Israelis are sentenced for refusing, they receive consecutive sentences with breaks in between to see if they have changed their minds.
Tal, Sofia, and Ben are not being held indefinitely in overcrowded, abusive, deadly prison facilities like incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. But, what Tal, Sophia, and Ben are doing is heroic and places them within a legacy of great peacemakers.
We’re running an ad in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz הארץ calling for more Israelis to become conscientious objectors.
We’re over halfway to our $10,000 goal! Join us today!
You can support this effort by making a donation online and checking the “My donation is in support of Israeli COs” box below the dollar amount you are pledging to donate or sending a check to FOR P.O. Box 271 Nyack, NY 10960 with “Israeli COs” on the memo line.
Before reporting to Israel’s military court, Tal sent his solidarity to Turkish Cypriot CO Mustafa Hürben, “Mustafa and I will both be jailed today (23.1). International solidarity between us is the way to fight against oppressive systems in each of our countries.”
He posted the lyrics of the Anne Feeney song “Have You Been to Jail for Justice” on his social media account.
🎵 Was it Cesar Chavez? Maybe it was Dorothy Day, 🎶
Some will say Dr. King or Gandhi set them on their way, 🎵
No matter who your mentors are it’s pretty plain to see, 🎶
🎵 That, if you’ve been to jail for justice, you’re in good company 🎶👏
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly dealt with the issue of the right to “conscience” in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It reads: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation, founded in 1914 to support conscientious objectors to WWI and rooted in the steadfast belief that war is an abomination in the eyes of the God of creation, affirms the right of belief, conscience, and religion of all persons to refuse to participate in war. We are steadfast in our conviction that war is unable to birth peace and committed to a world where conflicts are resolved through non-violent means. Read more from Ariel Gold about the history of conscientious objection and its relevance to today’s war in Gaza.
“I reject participating in the violent policies of oppression and apartheid that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian people, especially now during the war”
Sofia Orr
“I do not want to take part in the continuation of the oppression and the continuation of the cycle of bloodshed, but to work directly for a solution.”
Tal Mitnik
