The Friday Edition
Why I'm Saying No to the IDF as a 17-Year-Old
Source: Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/refusing-to-serve-in-the-idf
By Fred Hidvegi
Published April 27, 2023
As my birthday approaches, I grow more and more anxious because a professional organization of trained terrorists that calls itself an army wants me to be one of them. And if I say no, a prison sentence will be the result.
An Israeli soldier takes aim from behind a vehicle at a position in the Deir Sharaf area as the Israeli army closes the western entrance leading to Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on October 12, 2022.
(Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images)
As a soon-to-be 18-year-old Israeli high school student, enlistment is the only thing waiting for me after I finish my studies in six months. We have speeches every other week, telling us how important it is to serve and complete a "meaningful service" for the country. Of course, meaningful service means serving in fighting roles, roles that include violence.
Recently I got sent a message from the IDF telling me that I'm "invited" to a sorting intended for future paratroopers. I, of course, don't want to be a paratrooper. I don't want anything to do with the IDF, for obvious reasons.
I don't want to take any part in enforcing apartheid, colonialism, and violent oppression. For the IDF though, this is not enough. As I learned recently, the army does not exempt anyone purely because of ideological reasons. In other words, I can hate the army, I can hate the country, its government, and the things it stands for, but I cannot refuse to become a soldier.
Because the punishment for that is a prison sentence.
We're told to serve, have a meaningful service, and be ready to kill. That's why I will be a paratrooper if I don't resist. If I don't defy them. If we all don't defy them.
I grow more and more anxious by the day because a professional organization of trained terrorists that calls itself an army wants me to be one of them. And I cannot say no.
But, in the eyes of the government, especially the purely fascist one we have now, I should be proud to serve. I should be honored to be allowed to serve "the security of our state."
And as someone eligible to serve in a fighting role, I should gladly give my life and the lives of others for the country.
I should be prepared to kill. Fighters in the army have a literal license to kill. And to top all that, the propaganda we are fed in school is infuriating. Most people know the myth of Israel's soldiers being part of the most moral army in the world. But here, I'm surrounded by 17- and 18-year-old classmates who believe and defend the idea that the IDF is somehow even close to being "moral." Anyone who believes that Palestinians deserve self-determination and their birthright to live freely is labeled either a 'dirty leftist' or a Nazi.
All Israelis aged 18 must serve, but the ones who understand the gravity of the army's deeds, the ones most fiercely opposing it—they have to put aside their belief system and put up with being an opponent to millions of Palestinians living a peaceful life.
To destroy and take lives is the main mission of an IDF soldier. Everything else is secondary.
That's why we're told to serve, have a meaningful service, and be ready to kill.
That's why I will be a paratrooper if I don't resist. If I don't defy them. If we all don't defy them.
Because if no one dares to oppose Israel, they will continue what they have been doing best.
And that's not being the most moral army in the world.
That's why I'm saying no to them.
That's why I'm risking going to prison.
I'm saying no to the IDF, so they understand what it feels like when someone forces their belief system onto them, just like the way they have been doing to others all this time.
LATEST OPEN LETTERS
-
13-02World Peace
-
05-12My scream to the world
-
16-11To Syria and Bashar al-Assad
-
16-11To Palestine
-
24-10Japan should withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN), WHO's controlling parent body, to protect the basic human rights and lives of its citizens.
-
09-08Open Letter to António Guterres: Will the UN Protect Our Rights and End Our Suffering?
-
09-06Urgent Appeal
-
07-05Protect Our Great Earth And Nation!
-
09-03Peace And Love!
-
06-02Non military defence of Ukraine
VIRTUAL POST OFFICE
PETITIONS
LINKS
DONATION
Latest Blog Articles
-
15-05Our Wednesday News Analysis | Opinion | Holocaust Marketers Preserve Israel as the Perpetual Victim
-
14-05Humanitarian Aid or Political Conspiracy – What Do Gazans Think of the American Pier
-
14-05Biden’s war on Gaza is now a war on truth and the right to protest
-
14-05Opinion | Holocaust Marketers Preserve Israel as the Perpetual Victim
-
13-05The Evangelical Pope | Faith is Praise, Glory, and Honor
-
08-05Our Wednesday News Analysis | What do Palestinians in Gaza want?
-
07-05The genocide in Gaza will also be the end of Israel
-
07-05We’ve shown Gaza’s suffering for over 200 days. Don’t look away now
-
07-05What do Palestinians in Gaza want?
-
06-05The Evangelical Pope | A Future of Grace and Hope and Love
-
02-05Our Friday News Analysis | What the World Reads Now!
Latest Comments
-
One of the most important and illuminating articles that I …
Comment by Benjamin Inbaraj -
And what's wrong here?
After all, there is the homeland …
Comment by Isac Boian -
Does this reinforce or deny my argument that Israel is …
Comment by Edward Campbell -
Many 'say' they support the Palestinian cause but do little …
Comment by Philip McFedries -
The UN is strangled by the "war for profit" cabal …
Comment by Philip McFedries -
I can't read the printing on the map.
Comment by Philip McFedries -
Good news!
Comment by Philip McFedries
COMMENTS
This article has 0 comments at this time. We invoke you to participate the discussion and leave your comment below. Share your opinion and let the world know.