On December 18 last year, a group of Israeli young men and women, barely out of school, brought home some important truths about the situation in Israel/Palestine for those who care to listen. The Shministim (Hebrew for class XII students) are Israelis who, called up for compulsory military service, have refused to serve in an occupying army and consequently are sent to prison for refusing the draft.
December 18 was called as a day of action for the Shministim. It raised the profile of Israel’s conscientious objectors, protested their repeated imprisonment, and highlighted exactly why these Israeli youth have decided it is better to go to jail or risk isolation and ridicule from family and friends, rather than enforce the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
A Shministim refusenik faces the prospect of repeat sentences of up to four weeks at a time, as the cycle of draft-refusal-punishment can continue until they are 21 years old or be discharged for some other reason (medical). Tamar Katz, because of her refusal to wear a military uniform in prison, was placed in solitary confinement.
This group of Shministim follow in a long-standing tradition of Israeli refuseniks who have either quietly, or very publicly, made a stand against their government’s policies. Dozens of youngsters have signed the 2008 letter of refusal, some of whom have already spent time in jail.
According to Shministim, Sahar Vardi, “the majority of Israelis” her age “do not question the ethics of serving in the IDF” for two main reasons. Firstly, “the lack of knowledge about what is going on in the territories on the other side of the wall”. Secondly, “education”, where “from kindergarten we are told heroic stories about the people who fought for this country and died for our freedom” and taught that “we will be granted the ‘privilege’ of doing so ourselves”.
Within Israel, an end to the occupation requires that “extremists” (in her own words) like Vardi and the others will continue to be “hated and ignored for a long time” until their “ideas tip-toe into the heart of the consensus”.
(Excerpted and adapted from The Guardian)