Ofer Cassif
As Israel pushes ahead with its expanded military offensive in Gaza to devastating effect, closer to home, dissent is growing. On Saturday, thousands of people gathered in Habima Square in central Tel Aviv to demand an end to the war – one of the largest rallies since the fighting broke out. Israeli police revoked a prior permit for a march through the city, in a clear attempt to silence our voices of opposition – but we refused to let them succeed. It had been 24 hours since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in Gaza and revealed the horrors of Israel’s full-scale starvation campaign. Many Israelis felt it was our duty to rally in the streets.
Since the cabinet resolution to reoccupy Gaza City, the Israeli military has issued 60,000 new recruitment warrants for reserve service. When the warrants come into effect in early September, the reserve forces will be at their highest level since the outbreak of the war – 130,000. But the military is not the only thing increasing in size. So, too, is the refusal movement.
In recent weeks, a surge of refusers emerged in response to the political cynicism of Benjamin Netanyahu. In private talks between family members or in public declarations of objection, more and more Israelis are realising that participating in military service is to be complicit with the government’s crimes. The movement is not homogenous – either in age and social grouping, or in motive or ideology. Some conscientious objectors, like the teenagers of Mesarvot, go public with their refusal to be part of the war machine. They are treated with extreme severity and often subjected to cycles of imprisonment in military jail. I have personally conducted regulatory visits at such facilities, meeting these brave people who have come to be known as “soldiers of peace”.
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