A group of active and former members of an elite Israeli intelligence unit have announced their refusal to spy on Palestinians in the occupied territories, citing excessive harm done to innocent civilians.
8200 Unit (Photo: IDF)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) threatened disciplinary action against 43 veterans and active reservists from Unit 8200, an elite corps responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption, after they penned a letter in which they state their refusal to spy on Palestinians. The signatories, who included a major and two captains, cited what they called “our moral duty to act” as they wrote they are refusing to carry out their appointed duties due to Israel’s “political persecution” of Palestinians.
“We, veterans of Unit 8200, reserve soldiers both past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the Occupied Territories,” the letter stated.
“It is commonly thought that the service in military intelligence is free of moral dilemmas and solely contributes to the reduction of violence and harm to innocent people” the letter continued. “However, our military service has taught us that intelligence is an integral part of Israel’s military occupation over the territories.” The work of Unit 8200 harms innocent people, according to the letter, which claims the intelligence gathered is “used for political persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting collaborators and driving parts of Palestinian society against itself.”
The letter added that Israel’s “persecution… does not allow for people to lead normal lives, and fuels more violence, further distancing us from the end of the conflict.” The dissenting Israelis also lamented that while surveillance of Israeli citizens is strictly limited, “the Palestinians are not afforded this protection.”
“I don’t feel comfortable in my conscience continuing to serve,” said a refusnik soldier in an interview to the Communist weekly “Zo Haderech”. “I must take responsibility for what I see as the perpetuation of the cycle of violence. We hope that people will think critically about these things,” added.
The letter, which marks the first public collective refusal to serve by Israeli intelligence officers, was not motivated by Israel’s recently concluded deadly Operation Protective Edge bombardment and invasion of Gaza. Israeli forces killed more than 2,100 Palestinians Gaza residents, mostly innocent civilians, over the course of the 50-day war, in which Palestinian militants killed 66 Israeli troops and six civilians. More than 11,000 Palestinians were wounded, and hundreds of thousands left homeless, by the colonial war.
Related:
The full refuse letter (Hebrew)
