BURNING THEIR
DRAFT ORDERS By Oren Ziv, :
Resist!
On April 1, in the midst of one of the weekly mass
demonstrations in Tel Aviv against the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul
plans, a group of around 10 teenagers gathered to burn their military draft
orders, after announcing that they would refuse to serve in the army in protest
of the occupation and apartheid. This symbolic act gained a great deal of
attention, perhaps buoyed by the recent wave of refusal threats by hundreds of
reservist soldiers as part of the protest movement against the government.
From conversations with several of these high
school students and young people, it is clear that the protests against the
judicial overhaul and the political awareness that it has brought about has
accelerated the process of radicalization. Moreover, they feel that other young
people are becoming more willing to hear about the occupation, while the issue
of army refusal in various forms is growing much more widespread.
“People are getting more into politics because
there is no choice,” says Sofi Or, a 17-year-old from the northern town of
Pardes Hanna, and an activist with Mesarvot, a network that guides young people
through the process of conscientious objection. Before the protests, she says,
most young people did not think much about politics. “Now, young people who
were not in the political scene are open to hearing about politics — and not
only ideas from the mainstream. Even within the protests themselves it is easy
to start conversations.”
“If young people learn about the committee for the
appointment of judges [which the government is trying to control], maybe they
will also learn about apartheid in the occupied territories,” explains Tal, a 17-year-old
from Tel Aviv.
Ayelet Kobo, another 17-year-old from Tel Aviv, is
also active in Mesarvot. “People around me have really changed,” they say. “At
the beginning of the protests, I organized students to come to the ‘anti-occupation
bloc’ [a group of protesters at the sidelines of the main demonstration who
hold banners and chant slogans against occupation and apartheid, and wave
Palestinian flags]. I met people who in the past might have spoken about
politics, but were not active. Now they are joining many protests and coming
every week.”
Kobo says the change is due to the fact that the
demonstrations are accessible to everyone. “It is expected that young people
will be more radical,” they explain. “The problem is that you hear about
terrible things but then don’t know about left-wing organizations and how to
join them. The [current] protests are so big that you do not need to get to the
other side of
Many of the high schoolers who spoke to +972 are
not sufficing just with the weekly anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv,
but are also participating in civil disobedience and direct action. Some are
joining Palestinian-led protests in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in
occupied
Iddo
Defying Their Elders
In February, Uri Lass, the principal of Tel Aviv’s
At the demonstration, one of the administrators
asked a student to stop waving the Palestinian flag. When the latter refused,
the administrator asked the police officer supervising the demonstration to
forbid the anti-occupation bloc from entering the main square with the rest of
the protesters, where the speeches took place.
Kobo views that demonstration as a great success. “We
appealed to young people we know, and the response was amazing,” they say. “I
didn’t think there were more than five or six left-wing kids in my year. But I
started talking and sharing things in the [student] WhatsApp group and realized
that we have a presence in the school — that we have a voice. A few months ago,
[students] didn’t know how to organize, and now they send me selfies from [demonstrations
in] Sheikh Jarrah. It’s really impressive.”
Kobo was offended that the teachers denounced the
bloc, but was ultimately unsurprised. “In the end, the teachers’ job is to
preserve the establishment. They teach us history and civics with the aim of
making us think that
While Kobo and
At the next mass demonstration a week later in Tel
Aviv’s
“Going to protests means experiencing
radicalization every time afresh. Police violence, tours in
‘People Are Getting Used To Our Presence’
The anti-occupation bloc, which has grown to around
1,000 people each week, has become a meeting point for left-wing youngsters. A
significant number of them are members of the youth wing of Banki, coming to
demonstrations after meeting earlier at the
“A lot of young people are joining,” says 18-year-old
Einav Zipori, secretary of Banki’s Tel Aviv branch. “There is a lot of interest.
The protests helped young people who might have been aware of these issues to
enter and do things.”
Zipori says that at the beginning there were
arguments among the leftist youth about whether to join the big demonstrations
at all. “In the first weeks it was problematic, but little by little
connections were made with other organizations and new people, the [anti-occupation]
bloc was formed, and people joined other activities as well.”
And whereas members of the bloc initially faced a
lot of aggression from other protesters, the level of violence toward them
decreased as the weeks went on. “Many people who come to fight are also ready
to listen,” Zipori continues. “People are getting used to our presence. More
people are reaching out to us, and there is more awareness that Banki exists.”
“The message we are conveying is that there is no
democracy if it is not for all,” says Or. “The current protests, which are
supposedly about democracy, are really a struggle to preserve the status quo — returning
to what we had before, where democracy was granted to Jews only. We want to
remind this protest movement of the occupation, the oppression that
Palestinians are experiencing, and their flag.”
“We oppose the reform, but we don’t only want to
settle for that,” says Kobo. “The mainstream protests demand a return to the
values of the Declaration of Independence. But we know that there has never
been a democracy here. Not only because of the occupation; before that there
was the Nakba, when people were deliberately expelled to create a Jewish state.
“The protests say that if the laws are passed,
Kobo is conscious, however, that while the anti-occupation
bloc has managed to assert itself as a legitimate voice in the protests, change
doesn’t only take place at demonstrations. “Protests are not the place to
change people’s opinions,” they say. “That happens in more intimate forums,
such as tours or ceremonies. The idea of a joint [Jewish-Palestinian] ceremony [such
as the joint Memorial Day ceremony that took place at the end of April] appeals
even to non-radical youth.”
Tal’s experience shows that the anti-occupation
bloc is sparking conversations with other young people in the crowd. “There
have been countless discussions,” he recalls. “People are surprised by what we
think. At first they approach us aggressively. When we explain that we just
want everybody to live in equality, we don’t want to throw the Jews into the
sea, and that there is no reason for one people to rule over another people,
they will say: ‘That’s not so bad.’”
But despite the optimism, Or is aware that most
young people do not accept these positions. “The majority of young people in
‘We’ve Reached The Mainstream’
One of the issues preoccupying the radical youth in
these protests is conscientious objection. Some are preparing to go to military
prison as a result of their refusal, while others hope to get exemptions for
health reasons. The protests in Tel Aviv have seen future conscientious
objectors addressing the crowd in the anti-occupation bloc. And according to
those who spoke to +972, the fact that army reservists are now openly talking
about refusing has made it easier for them to speak to other young people about
refusing to be enlisted altogether.
The first conscientious objector to be sent to
military prison since these protests began was Yuval Dag, 20, who is now
serving his third term behind bars. I met Dag twice — once right after the
elections in November 2022, and a second time after the protests started.
During our second meeting, he explained how the
reactions to his decision to refuse had shifted over the past half year. “I
feel that there is more support [for my decision]. You see many more people who
go to the main demonstration with Israeli flags, and then encounter the anti-occupation
bloc and say, ‘Well done, we are with you.’ This has given me more strength.”
Dag attributes this change to the extremism of the
current government. “It has become clear to everyone that there is a deeper
connection between
Or, who graduated high school this year, will
likely be sent to prison in the coming months upon declaring her refusal to
enlist. “I am not refusing as part of the protest movement, like the reservists.
I am refusing because of the occupation and apartheid,” she says. “But the
general discussion about conscientious objection has allowed us to reach the
mainstream. People are far more willing to hear it, despite the fact that there
is still a lot of hatred.”
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