Ella Keidar, an 18-year-old Communist objector announces on Wednesday, March 19, her refusal to enlist in the Israeli army in protest of occupation and war. Ella was sentenced to 30 days in military prison. During a demonstration in solidarity with Kedar held near the induction center at Tel-Hashomer, MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) told the crowd: “Ella refused to enlist in the Israeli army because she refuses to take part in the genocide in Gaza and she is a hero and an inspiration to us all. It is our duty to refuse.” Keidar agreed, “We will not take part in the genocide in Gaza or the oppression of the Palestinian people. A true hero fighting for freedom, justice, and equality for everyone between the river and the sea – no matter what the cost.”
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Israel, Adel Amer; Communist objector Ella Keidar and Hadash MK Ofer Cassif during the demonstration held near the induction center at Tel-Hashomer, Wednesday, March 19, 2025 (Photo: Zo Haderekh)
Under the title “The Imperative is Refusal” she published a public statement: “My name is Ella Keidar Greenberg, I was raised to be a man and a soldier. At the age of 14 I came out as a trans woman and rejected society’s dictation of gender. Now, at the age of 18, I am refusing to enlist and reject society’s militaristic dictation. Shortly after coming out, I found the Communist Manifesto in my grandmother’s library. I spent the next two years reading books about political philosophy and Marxist theory. Through reading I developed a deeper understanding of the bloody history and present of the place I live in. With the protest movement against the judicial coup, a path manifested for me to convert the frustration I felt into hope and political action. I quickly joined the struggle against the occupation as an activist and organizer. First in the anti-occupation bloc and the weekly protests in Kaplan Street, and later in the Mesarvot Network, in the Israeli Young Communist Guard, in and in the Communist Party of Israel.”
“Since then activism has turned into the center of my life, I organized a mass protest against transphobic propaganda, protested with Palestinian activists against land theft as soldiers shot stun grenades and rubber bullets at us, blocked roads, got injured by cops and from violent evictions by Magav (border police), organized a mass refusal campaign under Youth Against Dictatorship, did protective presence and joined co-resistance in Masafer Yatta, and now – I am refusing.
“The main reason for this act, is that my country is committing a genocide in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands have been killed in bombings, intentional destruction of infrastructure, starvation, and indiscriminate fire. Millions were torn from their homes and continue to exist in a state of displacement since. This has been the daily reality in Gaza for the past 18 months. All for a war that was supposedly meant to bring the hostages back home, but in practice, abandon them. The war of annihilation has passed over the West Bank, with escalating settler violence, supported more than ever by the army. Dozens of villages, ethnically cleansed as if they never even existed, and entire neighborhoods destroyed and depopulated as part of the destructive operation in Jenin and Tulkarem. Now that the government has returned to its campaign of destruction in Gaza, this situation is expected to continue and worsen… In 40 years, when our grandchildren ask us what we did during the Gaza genocide, during the collapse of the old order, if we gave up or if we put up a fight, how will you rather answer? I know what I’ll answer that I chose to resist. This is why I am refusing,” she wrote. On February 28, two conscientious objectors, Iddo Elam, a leading member of the Communist Youth in Tel-Aviv, and Soul Bachar Tsalik have been officially released from military prison after months in military prison.
Ella Keidar was among hundreds of Israeli high school students who made in September 2023 a bold declaration, stating their refusal to serve in the military as a form of protest against the policies of the incumbent far-right government, including a contentious judicial overhaul. They issued a statement at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium high school in central Tel Aviv, explicitly connecting their cause to their opposition to the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“As young women and men about to be conscripted into Israeli military service, we say NO to dictatorship in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We hereby declare that we refuse to join the military until democracy is secured for all,” the statement read. The students emphasized that the “dictatorship” experienced by Palestinians in the occupied territories for decades is now extending to other regions and is being directed against them.”
“The statement draws a connection between the judicial overhaul and the occupation. Those promoting the overhaul in the Knesset are [Simcha] Rotman, [Itamar] Ben-Gvir, and [Bezalel] Smotrich, who are settlers,” said 16-year-old Ella Keidar, referring to prominent far-right officials advocating these policies. “Some of the signatories had already planned to refuse military service before the current far-right cabinet took office, while others have solidified their stance in recent months.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32499
