“I won’t serve the army even if I end up in prison”: the rebellion of young Israelis against the war in Gaza

The war in Gaza will continue through 2024, according to Israel, which continues to relentlessly bomb the Palestinian enclave, nearly three months after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli soil on October 7.

The Army has announced that its reservists will soon pause the war to prepare for prolonged fighting. There are 360,000 in total, in addition to the regular army.

This protracted war between Israel and Hamas requires the rotation of armed troops, especially Israeli reservists. However, Some of the young men called to enlist refuse to do so.

This is the case of Sofia Orr, one of the voices of young Israelis who say enough to the conflict. She lives in Pardes Hanna-Karkur, north of Tel Aviv. Sofia is 18, old enough to join the army.

“In February I will refuse to serve in the Israeli army and for this I will end up in a military prison,” the 18-year-old tells RFI correspondents.

DeSofia is one of the leaders of the “Mesarvote” movement, an anti-militarist group which already has dozens of members: “Most people in this country have that military spirit, which supports the army in any case, and this obviously includes people close to me. Sometimes they call me a traitor or a Jew full of Lo I hate it. It’s really difficult,” he confesses.

His face was made public, as was that of his friend Tal Mitnick, the first person to refuse military service since October 7. Last week it was sentenced to a first month of arrest.

“You can get a waiver, do it quietly and without being publicly humiliated for it. But that’s not an option for me. I feel like I have to speak out publicly and try to have as much impact as possible,” says Sofia Orr.

Since then he has tirelessly repeated: “The extremist violence of Hamas cannot be fought with other violence. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. We must make peace, there is no other option.”

“New phase” of the war

Five Israeli brigades will withdraw or redeploy shortly. According to the Israeli army, the reservists will also take time off to prepare for “prolonged combat.”

For David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) and editor-in-chief of the magazine Orient Stratégique, interviewed by RFI, the army’s announcement indicates that the war is entering “a new phase”.

“According to Tsahal’s statements, this is a redistribution with the aim of allowing them to resume work, so there is an economic logic and, I quote (Tsahal): “We are planning the management of the forces operating on the ground looking at the reserve system, the economy, the renewal of the forces forces.’ So today there is a rotation system in place, which shows that we are entering a new phase, as has been mentioned several times,” estimates the researcher.

“The first phase involves massive bombings, the second ground operations and a third phase of lower intensity, especially in northern Gaza. This would be in line with American requests, in particular those of Jake Sullivan, advisor to Joe Biden’s American party security, who wanted lower intensity operations starting in January. But this does not mean a change in strategy, but is part of long-term planning”, analyzes Rigoulet-Roze.

As this researcher points out, The reasons for the withdrawal of Israeli reservists can be strategic, but also economic: “360,000 people have been mobilized, representing between 10 and 15 percent of the Israeli workforce, especially in small and medium-sized businesses. This is the majority of the economic structure. So there is a clear economic impact.”

“There is also an impact on the budget, with a deficit of around 8%. But beyond that, we need to ask ourselves about the methods of relocation. Some talk about the possibility of redistributing units in the north of the country, with the possible opening of a facing the Lebanese border”, he adds.

Source: RFI