Refusing military service in protest against the war in Gaza 

Yona refuses military service – Gaza protest went viral

TT

Updated 14.52 | Published 14.35

 

Israeli youth burn their military draft orders at a protest in Tel Aviv in July. Photo: Jess Flom/TT

In clips that have gone viral on social media, Israeli youth burn their military draft orders – in protest against the war in Gaza.

19-year-old Yona Roseman is one of them.

In about two weeks it will be time for her to begin her service.

– I will announce that I refuse and will probably be sent to military prison, she tells TT. 

Quick version

• Several young people in Israel are refusing to serve in the military in protest against the war in Gaza, and are burning their draft orders in public, which could lead to a prison sentence.
• The action has received a lot of attention in the media and on social platforms, where individual clips have been viewed and shared hundreds of thousands of times.
• Despite the risk of violence and prison sentences, the young people and the Mesarvot movement continue to protest and describe Israel's warfare as genocide.

In mid-July, over 150 demonstrators marched to Habima Square in Tel Aviv. In the square, Yona Roseman and several other young people stood to burn their draft letters from the Israeli military.

Several people filmed themselves and the clips spread like wildfire on social media. Two weeks after the action, a single clip has been liked and shared over 850,000 times.

“My family and I have received a lot of attention afterwards. One of the largest news channels in  Israel did a feature on the protest,” says Yona.

 

Yona Roseman has been an activist for several years in the Mesarvot movement, which has been protesting against the war in Gaza since it broke out in October 2023. This year she has been arrested five times in connection with demonstrations. Photo: Soul Bahar Tsalik

Her family supports her, but became worried because the action spread.

– Which is reasonable. I am afraid that people will recognize me on the street and become violent, says the activist.

Yona is on a train to her hometown of Haifa after a week of intense demonstrations with the Mesarvot movement. Together with other teenagers from the network, she takes to the streets of Israel to protest against the war and oppression of Palestinians.

– I have been arrested five times this year and once last year, she says.

Other young Israelis sentenced to prison

Yona and the other young people in the clips plan to refuse to serve in the Israeli military and thus risk imprisonment. Activist Soul Bahar Tsalik, who was the same age, joined the protest. He was sentenced to prison at the end of last year, after refusing to enlist.

“The first two days were the most frightening,” says the Tel Aviv resident, who was released in January of this year.

He is one of several young people from the Mesarvot movement who have been sentenced to prison since the Gaza war broke out, following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. On the day Soul was to report, more than 50 other activists were on site at the military base. He hugged his friends goodbye and went inside.

“If you are going to refuse, you are forced to join the ranks with other people who are going to be soldiers,” he says.

 

19-year-old Soul Bahar Tsalik refused military service and was sentenced to prison. Photo: Soul Bahar Tsalik

“Already sentenced us in advance”

Soul stood in line for hours, soldiers yelled at him and tried to persuade him to change his mind.

– Finally, we were allowed to enter our trial and it was like a joke. They had already sentenced us in advance, he says.

It was the middle of the night when he arrived at the military prison and was put in a cell with about 20 other people.

– It is freezing cold there at night and the whole section shares a shower room.

Officially, Soul was sentenced to 30 days of military prison, but when it was over, he was taken in and out of prison for another month, he says.

– The army tries to make it as unclear as possible. That is probably the scariest thing about refusing.

Soul chose to be open to his fellow prisoners about why he was in prison. It was uncomfortable at first, but after a while he noticed that his fellow prisoners respected him and his opinions.

– It means a lot to me, says Soul.

Yona Roseman also expects that she will be sentenced to prison when it is time for her to appear on August 17.

– It is scary, but I have known that I will do it for almost two years. When I think about what the Palestinians are going through, it does not feel like a harsh punishment, she says.

 

Starving Palestinians in war-torn Gaza. Photo: Jehad Alshrafi/AP/TT

Still few support civilians in Gaza

Since she publicly burned her draft, she has received messages almost every day from others who want to refuse to carry weapons.

– I think there will be more of us, but we are still a small, small minority, she says.

During the action, the demonstrators carried signs that read “stop the genocide”. Some passing by tried to stop the demonstrators, while others gave the thumbs up.

That Israel's warfare constitutes genocide is an opinion that is increasingly heard internationally, but some in Israel also make that assessment, including the two human rights groups B'Tselem and PHR-I (Physicians for Human Rights Israel).

The issue will be decided in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where a legal process has been underway since December 2023 in which South Africa is accusing Israel of genocide.

- I do not apologize for describing it as genocide, says Yona, who intends to continue demonstrating after her possible prison sentence.
 

FACTS 

Refusing military service

Mesarvot is an organization of people who refuse to serve in the Israeli military.

Since the war broke out on October 7, 2023, people from the organization have refused and ended up in prison - in protest against the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, but also for supporting civilians in Gaza.

On July 15th of this year, about ten young men burned their draft orders in a square in Tel Aviv, to show that they will refuse military service. Videos from the action have spread around the world and individual posts have been shared hundreds of thousands of times.