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tal mitnick
In 'Solidarity With the Innocent in Gaza,' Israeli Refusenik Gets 30 More Days in Prison
"I don't see myself as the hero or anything while people are being massacred every day in Gaza," said 18-year-old conscientious objector Tal Mitnick.
Jan 23, 2024
Undaunted after spending nearly a month behind bars for his conscientious objection to Israel's war on Gaza, 18-year-old refusenik Tal Mitnick on Tuesday reported for an additional 30 days of military detention.
As Common Dreamsreported last month, Mitnick entered the Tel Hashomer enlistment center on December 27 with other members of the Mesarvot Network—a group of young conscientious objectors—and announced his refusal to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), citing the war on Gaza and Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine.
"My refusal is an attempt to influence Israeli society and to avoid taking part in the occupation and the massacre happening in Gaza," Mitnick told+972 Magazine last month. "I'm trying to say that it's not in my name."
"I express solidarity with the innocent in Gaza. I know they want to live," he added.
Nearly 25,500 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed, and over 63,000 others wounded, during the Israeli assault on the densely populated coastal enclave of 2.3 million people, most of whom have been forcibly displaced.
In an interview with The Guardianpublished Tuesday, Mitnick recounted his first day in military prison, where he was forced to sit in a classroom where notable quotes were posted on the walls. One from Nelson Mandela read, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."
"I nearly laughed to myself," Mitnick said via Zoom from his family's Tel Aviv home during his short-lived release, noting the irony of the IDF quoting an anti-apartheid icon while South Africa was leading a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
"I pointed out how ridiculous this quote being there was," he said. "No other prisoners engaged or agreed. I realized how alone I was."
While the IDF allows some service exemptions for conscientious objectors, they are almost always granted on religious grounds. IDF service is mandatory for most Israelis, including men and women. Exceptions include people with medical issues, certain criminal convictions, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Muslims and Christians, Druze and Circassian women, and pregnant people and new mothers.
Israelis who refuse to serve on politically ideological grounds are usually first jailed for 7-10 days, with the possibility of up to 200 additional days added for unrepentant resisters after their initial release.
Exemption is also possible for people diagnosed with certain mental health conditions.
"I feel like not wanting to serve is not a mental problem and it shouldn't be seen as such," Mitnick toldSky News. "I want to show that I don't want to serve because of my beliefs and because of my values, and that is not a mental problem."
Mitnick also rejects the platitudes bestowed by some anti-war campaigners.
"I don't see myself as the hero or anything while people are being massacred every day in Gaza," he told The Guardian. "And I want to stress I'm by no means the only one. There are other anti-occupation activists. People opting to not join the army. Peace campaigners, young and old. But at the same time, I do think this takes bravery."
Last year, 10,000 IDF reservists threatened to refuse service in opposition to the highly contentious judicial overhaul launched by the far-right administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hundreds of Israeli air force and cyberwarfare reservists went on strike over the legislation. But opposition dramatically waned following the horrific Hamas-led attacks on October 7th.
"Now the supposed liberals, that protested judicial reform, are pilots massacring people in Gaza," Mitnick lamented. "People who were speaking out about government corruption are now supporting the far-right leadership, saying there are no civilians in Gaza."
That sort of incendiary rhetoric has been cited in the South African-led ICJ case as evidence of intent to destroy the Palestinian people "in whole or in part," a critical component for conviction under the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In an interview with Sky News, Mitnick scoffed at Israel's ambiguous detention regimen for conscientious objectors.
"I can take another 30 [days] and I can take another 30 after that because I know that a lot of people support me and that I'm succeeding in making a change and showing the world that there's another way and that we can choose nonviolence over violence," he asserted.
"I think that for 70 years we've been seeing the same policy of occupation, of siege, and of Jewish supremacy between the river and the sea, and I can't take part in it," Mitnick continued.
"The war has only strengthened my opinion," he added. "I feel like we need to stop the cycle of violence. Somehow it's going to stop and I believe that every person should work to stop the violence from their own position."
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Israeli Teen Jailed for Refusing to Take Part in Army's 'Criminal Attack' on Gaza
"I believe that slaughter cannot solve slaughter," said 18-year-old Tal Mitnick, who was sentenced to 30 days behind bars for refusing to participate in what a fellow draft resister called a "genocide" in Gaza.
Dec 27, 2023
A young Israeli man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days behind bars for refusing to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces as it wages a genocidal assault on Gaza, a war the teen condemned as "a revenge campaign... not only against Hamas, but against all Palestinian people."
Tal Mitnick, an 18-year-old from Tel Aviv, entered the Tel Hashomer enlistment center with other members of the Mesarvot Network—a group of young conscientious objectors—and announced his refusal to enlist in the IDF, citing the war on Gaza and Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine.
"I believe that slaughter cannot solve slaughter," he said outside the base. "The criminal attack on Gaza won't solve the atrocious slaughter that Hamas executed. Violence won't solve violence. And that is why I refuse."
The 30-day sentence imposed on Mitnick is exceptionally long; Israeli refuseniks are usually first jailed for 7 to 10 days, with the possibility of up to 200 additional days added for unrepentant resisters after their initial release. Numerous observers believe the teen is likely being punished for his outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies and practices.
Mitnick expects to be imprisoned for an additional period after he serves out his month behind bars. In a statement shared Tuesday on social media, he slammed "the notion that this land belongs to only one people."
Mitnick wrote:
I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security, I refuse to take part in a war of revenge... We must recognize the fact that after weeks of the ground operation in Gaza, at the end of the day, negotiations, an agreement, brought back the hostages. It was actually military action that caused them to be killed. Because of the criminal lie that 'there are no innocent civilians in Gaza,' even hostages waving a white flag shouting in Hebrew were shot to death. I don't want to imagine how many similar cases there were that were not investigated because the victims were born on the wrong side of the fence.
The path to peace, Mitnick argued, will not come from Israeli or Palestinian politicians, but rather "from us, the sons and daughters of the two nations."
Supporters accompanying Mitnick at Tel Hashomer held signs with slogans like "an eye for an eye and we all go blind" and "there is no military solution."
Last month, Mitnick explained to TRT World that "the army that we have in this area is the operational wing of Jewish supremacy in the area and it's bent on the oppression of the Palestinian people, and I refuse to take part in that oppression and instead fight against it in my activism."
Mitnick said that the first day of the war was "defensive," but after that, it "turned into a war of aggression against civilians in Gaza."
"I refuse to agree with the idea that killing civilians in Gaza would provide security for anyone," he said. "It doesn't bring security to anyone, neither to the people of Gaza nor to the people of Israel. I believe that the only path to security and peace lies in coexistence."
Another Israeli conscientious objector, 19-year-old Ariel Davidov, told TRT World that "I cannot take part in something that is so immoral, so unjust. This is a genocide that has been going on since the beginning of Zionism."
Davidov said that prior to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, largely through terrorism and ethnic cleansing, "there was settler colonialism," and that Zionists—Jews seeking to establish a homeland in Palestine—"wanted to use this land and its people for their own interests."
"However," he stressed, "this situation cannot continue like this."
Yet another resister, Ella Keidal, said: "I don't wish to serve an army that is enacting an occupation, an apartheid regime."
"I don't want to serve in an army that enforces the occupation, implements a racist regime, and plays a role in oppressing the Palestinian people in this exploitation project," Keidal added.
As the teens were speaking to TRT World, a group of Israelis physically and verbally assaulted them, calling them "terrorists" and "Hamas supporters," forcing the interview to be cut short. The incident underscored the societal scorn and ostracization that Israeli conscientious objectors often face.
Teens like Mitnick, Davidov, and Keidal made the decision to become conscientious objectors even before the current war on Gaza. They are part of a group of more than 200 high school students who announced in August that they would refuse to enlist due to Israel's occupation of Palestine—which includes not just the West Bank and East Jerusalem but also Gaza under international law—and the anti-democratic judicial overhaul spearheaded by the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I don't wish to serve an army that is enacting an occupation, an apartheid regime."
"We truly fear for our own future, and for the future of all who live here. In view of this, we have no choice but to take extreme measures and refuse to serve in the army," the teens said in a statement published over a month before the Gaza war began. "A government that destroys the judiciary is not a government that we can serve. An army that militarily occupies another people is not an army that we can join."
Earlier this year, 10,000 IDF reservists threatened to refuse service over the judicial overhaul. Hundreds of Israeli Air Force and cyberwarfare reservists went on strike over the legislation.
There has been no such act of mass conscientious objection during the current Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 80,000 Palestinians—mostly women, children, and elders—dead, maimed, or missing over 82 days of near-relentless Israeli attacks.
Military service is mandatory for most Israelis, including men and women. Exceptions include people with medical or psychological issues, certain criminal convictions, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Muslims and Christians, Druze and Circassian women, and pregnant people and new mothers.
The IDF does allow exemptions for some conscientious objectors, but these are almost exclusively granted on religious grounds, not political ideology or principle.
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