Nathan Blanc, a 19 year-old Israeli conscientious objector, was released from military prison on Wednesday, November 28, after serving a ten day term for refusing to serve in the Israeli Army. On last Sunday, December 2, he reported back to the induction center, again stated his refusal to serve in the army, and was sentenced to a new 20 day term in military prison.
On Monday November 19th, Blanc show up at the recruitment bureau and informed officers there of his refusal to serve in the IDF. His act of conscientious refusal is directly connected to the current situation and the army’s acts in Gaza. He took this decision even before hearing the terrible news of women and children being killed by the Israeli Air Force:
Mohammad Ahmad, in front of the rubble of his three-storey home demolished by an Israeli airstrike during the Israeli latest large-scale offensive, Beit Hanoun, North Gaza, December 1, 2012. The home hosted 6 families and around 40 Palestinians, half of them children (Photo: Activestills)
“I began thinking about refusing to join the Israeli Army during the ‘Cast Lead’ operation in 2008. The wave of aggressive militarism that swept the country then, the expressions of mutual hatred, and the vacuous talk about stamping out terror and creating a deterrent effect were the primary trigger for my refusal. Today, after four years full of terror, without a political process [towards peace negotiations], and without quiet in Gaza and Sderot, it is clear that the Netanyahu Government, like that of his predecessor Olmert, is not interested in finding a solution to the existing situation, but rather in preserving it. From their point of view, there is nothing wrong with our initiating a ‘Cast Lead 2’ operation every three or four years (and then 3, 4, 5 and 6): we will talk of deterrence, we will kill some terrorist, we will lose some civilians on both sides, and we will prepare the ground for a new generation full of hatred on both sides.” He cannot read his e-mail, but you can write to him (on paper) to:
Natan Blanc
M.A. 7571368
D.Z. 01860
Israel Defence Forces, Israel
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