« Thematic Highlights

Israeli Military Service

Yoa'ad Shbita
Building Bridges for Peace, Reut-Sedaka Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ [The most serious issues that come up in dialogue are] for example, if we're talking about the refugees, the mess we have here now. Or when we talk about the military-- even now that I'm living with Jews in a different environment, I can't understand someone who tells me, "I'm enlisting," now, in this situation. The issues of the refugees and the military are what I'm very passionate about. Maybe I'm so passionate about the refugee thing because I have relatives who are refugees, and it's something that's never been solved.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Parents usually say, "Of course not. My sweet Yoram would never do such a thing." I know quite a few parents like that and I am familiar with what their sons did. It's true, their son would never do such a thing because at home he's a good boy and a very nice guy, but if he's in control, tired and people are pissing him off, he changes a little. He doesn't even have to be really annoyed for the situation to trigger him to contribute to a continuous sense of humiliation: though he himself serves in the Territories for only two years, later sweet Yoavi replaces him, and for the past 40 years an entire population has been humiliated, therefore Palestinians end up involved in the struggle.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Melisse Lewine-Boskovich
Peace Child Israel Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I'm not so sure I totally buy into the idea that everyone has to be a conscientious objector. I don't know if I think there has to be chaos. That's a warning bell for me. I can't say that I would totally forfeit the fact that there should be an army here. There are certain expectations by our colleagues in the field that we should of course be against the army. I can't say that. Not only that, I want to get to the point where my Arab colleagues and friends are not going to expect that of me. If you expect me to say there shouldn't be an army, that means you think I should basically be willing to take that chance and erase my existence. Don't ask me to do that.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Ofer Shinar
Consultant to the Bereaved Families' Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I grew up in a leftist home, a moderate one I think, and I became very political when I was a teenager. I participated in all sorts of political movements. I feel it's interesting how views very, very slowly change, because when I was in the army I spent a year of my life in the Occupied Territories, as a soldier, as a fighter, during the first intifada. I opposed it, but it didn't bother me so much, I was one of those who felt that it was better that I was doing it than somebody else.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Smiling while you’re on guard, or what is called the “enlightened occupation”, doesn’t help anyone forget they’re under occupation. Qalandia checkpoint is one example: now it’s been turned into a civilized border crossing with automatic gates and glass booths and people pass in a respectable manner. But if a person cannot cross with his daughter or take his pregnant wife to the hospital, it won’t help if a soldier smiles at him while saying, “You may wait for 5 or 6 hours please”.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Michal Eskenazi
Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Towards the end of the conference, after having undergone a very significant process together and many discussions, something happened in Gaza and eleven Palestinians were killed... The Palestinians refused to speak to us. We tried to explain that we were there and that we hadn’t done anything, but their perspective was that “you live in Israel, you served in the IDF, the guys serve in reserves, and we have nothing to say to you.” This was after we had the joint process. I grasped the asymmetry in coming to these discussions, in terms of how people perceive them.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ When an Israeli talks to Palestinians he can talk about his side and show his perspective, that he, the Israeli, was also once a fighter, “like you”, that’s what he will tell the people he’s talking to. If I talk to Israelis or at an Israeli school, I will be addressing children who want to be heroes and serve in elite units. Maybe our speaker served in an elite unit and can say, “I’m not sure that you will be such a hero there. ” A kid can listen to him, or to me because I’m not his mother… I’m allegedly a macho male that represents the consensus. This enables us to tap into the feeling of “I want to be just like him”. This is a person that a kid can listen to. Because the Israeli and Palestinian speakers come together, kids will also be able to listen to the enemy, see him -- see this dangerous and horrible person that is usually crucified by Israeli society.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Inas Radwan
Building Bridges for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ You cannot call [Building Bridges for Peace] a peace camp because it doesn't make us sit there with them and make peace or leave having freed Palestine. It is about giving us a chance to express ourselves; we cannot talk here so we go outside to talk to the other side and express ourselves. We do not need to express ourselves with weapons and bombing; we can do it in other ways. We meet eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds, the age at which they [Israelis] go to the army, so we try to make them understand. I know that one or two [people] cannot change their government, but at least when they go to the army, if they go to the army, they will treat the Palestinians better than [Israeli soldiers] are treating us now. They will know that there are good Palestinians.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Robi Damelin
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Even in his regular army service [my son] David was torn because he didn't want to serve in the Occupied Territories. He became an officer and was called to go to Hebron. He was in a terrible quandary and came to me and said, "What the hell am I going to do? I don't want to be there." I said, "If you want to go to jail I'll support you, but are you going to make a difference if you go to jail?" Because basically, if he were sent to jail, when he got out they'd put him somewhere else [in the Occupied Territories]. It's a never-ending story. If it would have created a huge noise then maybe that would have been the right choice; but you can also go [to your military post] and lead by example, by treating people around you with respect.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Tzvika Shahak
Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak, Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ At the age of 45 you are exempted from reserve service and for over 10 years I volunteered. I thought it was important and the right thing to do. The message and the knowledge must be passed on so that these young people use their minds and not only act according to emotions in the work they do in the military. I think that serving your country is the right thing to do so you contribute and not only receive. That is the reason I volunteered for such a long period. You could say that for 35 years I served the military through compulsory, professional and reserve service. That's a hell of a long period.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Meir Margalit
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ First of all, I'm afraid [regarding my children's military service]. I certainly am afraid of their military service. Second, I respect their decision. Third, I wish they would refuse to serve. But I do understand the pressure. At that age, growing up in a place like Jerusalem, peer pressure has the ultimate say and I can't force them to start paying the price now, excluding themselves, fighting with friends, all because they would refuse to serve.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Robi Damelin
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ David went to his reserve service and I was filled with a terrible premonition, of fear I suppose. He called me on that Saturday and said, "I have done everything to protect us. You know I love my life, but this is a terrible place, I feel like a sitting duck." He never shared that kind of stuff with me, ever. My kids never told me what they were doing in the army. They always told me ridiculous stories thinking that I was going believe them. The next morning I got up very early and ran to work hours before I had to be there. I didn't want to be at home, I had a very restless feeling.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Robi Damelin
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Everybody had asked me what I thought should happen to the sniper, and if they caught the sniper do I want them to kill him. I said that he killed David not because he was David; if he had met David he would have loved David. David worked for peace, David was part of the soldiers who didn't want to serve in the territories. David was the most loving person, if he had sat down and had coffee with David, they would have become friends. On David's grave there is a quotation by Khalil Gibran that says, "the whole earth is my birthplace and all humans are my brothers." I was looking for something and that was the truest thing that I could find. I said that the sniper didn't kill David because he was David; he killed David because he was a symbol of an occupying army.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I’ve also reached a level where I could think over how angry I once got at a group of taxi drivers because they indirectly served people who avoided the curfew -- the workers who left Jericho to go to work. The taxi drivers waited for them to return and that really irritated me; it was after a night without any sleep… I ordered them to leave and they didn’t want to. They gave me the finger; in the end I shot tear gas at them. I asked for permission and a sleepy clerk gave me the okay, so I shot tear gas. They ran away, came back, and laughed. It really annoyed me; how dare they laugh at me?”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Gershon Baskin
IPCRI (Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Well, my daughter, who is going to be 18 in July, has decided to refuse to serve in the army. She's written her letter to the army saying why she refuses to serve in the army because she refuses to support the occupation. She wrote in her letter that since she was a baby she's been going to demonstrations against the occupation, so how now as an adult could she go and serve the occupation. […] I fully support her. I sat with her to make sure that the reason that she was refusing to serve was not because she was lazy and didn't want to do the army service, or that she was looking for a way out. There are a lot easier ways to get out, and I wanted to be sure that she was willing to pay the price for her decision. I believe that in a democratic society when you refuse to observe the law you have to be prepared to pay the price, going to prison. I told her that I would be very happy to come and spend my Saturdays over a year or two years visiting her in prison. I wanted to make sure that she made as a point in her letter that she was a loyal Israeli and was willing to serve the country in a non-military civilian service. She is and she's willing to do that, and she wants to push for that. I'm fully supportive of her. If I had to go into the army today I would do the very same thing.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Meir Margalit
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I remember that when I was in youth group there was a classic question we debated. A soldier stands outside a cave in which a terrorist is hiding; he debates whether to throw a grenade because there are also a woman and child there, both innocent. He enters instead, and is wounded. The matter of the purity of arms used to be an important issue, as well as army morale, and it was very clear that when facing a terrorist accompanied by an innocent woman you wouldn't throw a grenade and kill her. Today we have a Chief of Staff who is capable of admitting he launched a one-tone bomb that killed 14 people and sensing only a slight jar in the plane.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Abigail Jacobson
Hands of Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ In terms of the way I address the army, I don't necessarily encourage the kids to refuse. I try to encourage them to think critically about questions such as: what is the army doing in the Territories? Why is it there? Who is the army serving? What [end] is it serving? How can they, as future soldiers, create change if they decide to serve in the army? I have friends who say this approach is naïve, and that as a facilitator or someone in this field one of my goals should clearly be to encourage people to refuse military service, and that should be my aspiration. I'm skeptical about this approach. I don't feel it would be right because it isn't a decision I should encourage. I feel my job is to encourage critical thinking, and thinking critically they should make up their minds.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Clearly it’s because a person fought, sacrificed their best years, some people became officers, some are pilots, fighters in elite units, all sorts of quality units. In Israel it is a well known fact that this entitles you to respect and high positions; some people move up and they are the people who are running the country. Clearly the army is central in Israel, and whoever was a combat soldier allegedly has more to say about security and about the conflict. I think this perception is shared more or a less in both societies, which are aggressive. We haven’t got a female Minister of Defense, or someone who hasn’t serve in the military.”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Rutie Atsmon
Windows Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I think it is very important that people refuse to serve in the army altogether because it's a voice that should be heard: it says, we do not want to serve in such an army. I think it's also very important that people who do go to the army refuse to serve in the Territories; it's another voice that should be heard and it resonates more because it's easier for the Israeli public to accept refusal to serve from someone who is in the army. I think it's also very important for people serving in the Territories to refuse to do obey certain orders; this voice resonates even louder because they are from there. I think it's important that people be everywhere. I think that if all the people who feel bad about what the army is doing refuse to perform military service, the army will be left in the hands of more militaristic people who believe that the army needs to fight and that there is no alternative, and this is very dangerous. I think that for society, it's important that people who don't believe in a military solution serve in the army so as to give this voice in the decision-making process. I think it's important that people be everywhere and that people with a conscience use it in different instances. ”  [Source in Complete Interview]

Itamar Shapira
Combatants for Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Shovrim Shtika’s central concept is that there is a conspiracy of silence inside Israeli society that initially starts between a soldier and his family. When a soldier is on leave, he never talks about exactly what he’s doing and how many people he beat up or if he killed anybody, or how many people or their identity, or how many houses he blasted. These issues are kept between a soldier and his friends; there is also a more profound conspiracy of silence within a soldier himself in that he doesn’t consider his own actions. People reach different states of aggression as a result of being in control, yet they are tired and frustrated and just kids. Society is silent about what appears in the papers, about the little that is published. There are other pacts of silence, but this is the main one we want to call attention to and get out in the open.”  [Source in Complete Interview]