We are on the brink of mass refusal

The Israeli government has broken the ceasefire and resumed its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza. Bombs are falling again, more lives are being lost, and the forever war is marching on. But this genocide is not inevitable. The government’s decision to dive back into its cruel campaign comes in direct opposition to wishes of the hostage families, who are furious. The streets are flooding with protesters calling for a stop to the war and a return to the ceasefire. The police are violently attacking anyone opposing the war. “Refuse!” – generally a taboo call in Israeli society – is quickly making its way into everyday speech. Reservists being called up right now are facing a contradictory moment: the choice is between the lives of the Israeli hostages and the Palestinians of Gaza on one hand, and endless war with no end on the other. Stories of reservists refusing to resume their service – including those serving in the air force and intelligence – are being widely reported in the Israeli media. Now more than ever, the time is ripe for more people to join the refuser movement, and we need your support to organize every reservist sitting on the fence into a coherent front: stop the genocide now!

We are on the brink of mass refusal. Our organizers on the ground are working to bring in more potential refusers to our movement, and we are counting on our supporters across the world to continue funding this work and even expand it. We need to seize the moment now, and fast, in order to put a stop to the killing of hundreds of Palestinians daily. More soldiers are questioning, resisting, and refusing to take part in war crimes. But they cannot do this alone.
 

Your donations make our work possible. Your support will help us to maximise the potential of this turning point and end the genocide. We cannot stress this enough. Our field organizing is a direct result of your backing. Right now, we need our organizers in the streets and on the phone, talking to protesters and reservists who are disillusioned with the government’s decision to break the ceasefire and sacrifice the hostages while murdering dozens of children in their sleep everyday. Join our efforts by donating today. Encourage your friends to match your support if possible.

 The Israeli government has made its choice. Now we must make ours. Stand with those resisting from within. Stand against genocide. Stand for a real future, not more war. 

Refuse the war – join RSN at our upcoming webinar

Atalya here. I am an activist, and I spent 110 days in jail after refusing to serve in the Israeli military in 2017. In just one week, we at Refuser Solidarity Network are hosting a crucial webinar alongside our friends at Veterans for Peace and World Beyond War. Together, we’ll discuss the Israeli refuser movement, the role of U.S. militarism, and how we can build a truly international coalition against the war economy fueling Israel’s assault on Gaza

Join us on Sunday, March 16th at 12:00PM ET by signing up here and let your communities know about this important event.

If we want to put a stop to the Israeli military-industrial complex, we need a global movement that is not just in solidarity with Palestinians, but internationalist in strategy. Western tax dollars fund Israel’s genocide, just as Israeli and Western arms dealers make record profits. The war economy knows no borders—neither can our resistance. Join us on Sunday, March 16th at 12:00 PM ET by signing up here, and help spread the word. Now is the time to build cross-border resistance to war and occupation. Only together will we triumph.

In solidarity,

Atalya Ben-Abba

Media Coordinator

Refuser Solidarity Network

As the olive harvest ends in the West Bank, Gaza does not feel so distant

The Palestinian olive harvest season has come to a close, a turbulent time when families and generations come together to harvest the fruits of their land against the lingering if not present threat of settler and military violence. Often accompanied by Israelis and internationals offering their presence in solidarity, the crowds of youth and veteran activists pick olives alongside Palestinian landowners in order deter militarized settlers from unleashing their most brutal violence. What unites the old and young solidarity activists: many of them are military refusers, and not by coincidence. The connection between solidarity with Palestinians and the refuser movement is what fuels the overwhelming presence of draft dodgers in villages dotting the West Bank during the olive harvest and year-round. The work involves documenting settler and military violence, deescalating and mediating, and even putting our bodies in between the assailants and Palestinians.

Our goal is to allow Palestinians unfettered access to their own so that they can rightfully reap its fruits, against the wishes of West Bank settlers backed by the Israeli military. For those opposed to Israel’s forever wars in Gaza and Lebanon – and every other war – access to land, freedom of movement and autonomy for all Palestinians are why we refuse to serve in the military, why we make our way to the olive groves. Refuser Solidarity Network is diligently documenting the olive harvest and news from the anti-war movement fighting for justice on the ground: follow our page Voices Against the War on Instagram and Twitter to inform your own solidarity work with Palestine.

On my most recent visit to the West Bank, me and my friends headed to Masafer Yatta, just south of Hebron, to join the last days of the harvest. We operated like itinerants: we started picking alongside the family we originally came to see before moving onto other groves, meeting new families we spotted from across the road and helping them wrap up their harvest. I had met a set of brothers, their wives and their children on one of these excursions. All of them hailed from a large nearby city where the brothers all worked as teachers, while they tended to their small parcel of land outside the city to make extra income from the annual olive harvest. Their extra source of side income has become a dangerous business: the settlers and the army regularly trespass on their land and physically threaten them. When they are not present on their land, their olive trees are threatened by arsonists from nearby settlements, a now ubiquitous phenomenon. The settlers are as keen to defile the land itself as they are to attack the Palestinians who tend to it.

The images of olive trees aflame that have made the rounds online are not so distant from the footage of American-made weapons enshrouding entire buildings in fire and smoke in the Gaza Strip before the ceasefire. Refusing the war also means refusing ecocide in all its forms: across Israel-Palestine, the military is determined to push people off of their land by destroying the land itself. RSN and local activists have documented some of these cases in the West Bank on our platform Voices Against the War at the same time as researchers are framing Israel’s assault on Gaza as ecocide. The soil in today’s Gaza is contaminated, while half of the Strip’s farmland and tree cover has been decimated by some estimates. With greenhouses also destroyed throughout the Strip, Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure is almost entirely decimated, a process advancing in the West Bank although at different rhythms and in different forms, which refusers and activists have witnessed during the olive harvest season and beyond.

As an anti-war and refuser movement, RSN is invested in identifying the connections between the West Bank, Gaza and Israel-Palestine as a whole. What seem like distant realities are deeply linked, notably the ecocide in Gaza and the settler and military violence destroying generations-old ecosystems in the West Bank, right before our eyes. When we refuse, we refuse the state of affairs from the river to the sea in its entirety: the genocide, the removal of people from their lands, the destruction of local ecosystems, and the sacrificing of Israeli children to advance these processes of Palestinian dispossesion. That is why our platform Voices Against the War documents resistance on a diverse range of fronts, where you will see current and former refusers on the front lines of dissent. Keep your communities informed: tell them about Voices Against the War to stay updated on internal resistance to Israel’s crimes. Follow and share our Instagram and Facebook pages.

In memory of the Holocaust, we refuse genocide

Mattan here. I am the Executive Director of Refuser Solidarity Network,was imprisoned in 2018 for refusing to serve in the Israeli military. Last week we marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. I would like to share with you a piece that I wrote for +972 Magazine during my imprisonment seven years ago. 

“When I was in grade 11, I traveled to Poland with Hashomer Hatzair [a socialist-Zionist youth movement]. Before the orientation before the trip, my mother told me her family’s story during World War II for the first time. On the fourth day of the trip to Poland, I read my family’s story at a ceremony commemorating the Righteous Among the Nations [non-Jews who saved Jews during the war].

My father’s family is Jewish, from Eastern Europe. My mother is Dutch. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, my great-grandfather Richte Taklenbroch was 28, married with three children. The Germans conquered the Netherlands in three days and quickly forced all Dutch young men to enlist in work camps to serve the German army.

Richte, my great-grandfather, refused to enlist, and joined the underground resistance. He hid in the family’s house in their village. At the same time, he attempted to join the resistance, to look for other ways to fight back against the Germans. Through the resistance, he met an old, Jewish couple and a Jewish woman. The three spent the last two years of the war hiding in Richte’s house. They would hide in a large closet, along with my great-grandfather. They could only leave the house at night to get fresh air. The resistance provided food rations for Richte’s guests. His wife would purchase food at different places in the area to avoid arousing any suspicion.

During the war, Richte’s family hid other Jews who would come to the house for one or two nights. Richte’s daughter, who was 10 at the time, was angry at her parents because she feared the punishment that awaited them if they were discovered hiding Jews. My grandmother was young then and didn’t understand the danger.

When the German occupation ended in May 1945, the old Jewish couple returned to the city of Groningen. They stayed in touch with the family until they died a few years after the war’s end. To this day, my family in the Netherlands still has a landscape drawn by the old Jewish man who hid in their house; he gave it to the family as a token of gratitude.

After I decided to refuse to enlist in the IDF, I still had occasional doubts about my decision. I asked myself what my great-grandfather would have done in my place. What would he have done were he required to serve in an army that occupies and oppresses another nation?

He wouldn’t enlist, his consciousness wouldn’t allow it. Richte would resist, he would refuse to enlist and he would face the consequences — time in prison.

I am not here to compare the horrors of the Israeli occupation and the Holocaust. However, oppression is oppression is oppression. Saving Jews and resisting Nazism and refusing to serve and resisting the Israeli occupation are different ways, in different times, of fighting the same struggle: the struggle against occupation and terror, against slavery, oppression and bondage. The struggle for a world of peace, justice, and equality for everyone.

My family’s story made a strong impression on me. It inspires me. Richte taught me a lot. He taught me that the majority is not necessarily right, that morality and conscience are greater than the law. Most of all, he taught me that the answer to injustice is resistance. My great-grandfather is an exemplar, and I feel proud to follow his example. In the face of injustice, conscientious objection is a moral obligation.”

One week after the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we continue to fight for an end to Israel’s wars of aggression in the shadow of its ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. With the news of Trump’s plans to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip – and the completion of a riviera on the ashes of those killed in Israel’s murderous war – we continue forward with our struggle. Our refusal to serve genocide is not new, part of a much longer story. Never again is now, for everyone. In the face of the genocide in Gaza and Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan, conscientious objection is a moral obligation and resistance is our duty.

In solidarity,

Mattan Helman

Executive Director

Refuser Solidarity Network

Only we can keep the ceasefire intact – and end the occupation

The struggle for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people is not over, but for a moment it is possible to breathe. As a ceasefire agreement finally entered its first phase on Sunday, the world is experiencing a sigh of relief, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are slowly returning to their towns and cities across the Strip, where most homes are uninhabitable and the ceasefire agreement lays out a temporary “caravan city” for the displaced. In the West Bank, Palestinians are rejoicing with fireworks and flowers as prisoners return home to their families as part of the hostage exchange deal, while Israel holds thousands of other Palestinians hostage in administrative detention without trial. Israelis, meanwhile, are watching hostages return home in publicly-televised events in squares across major cities, with none of Israel’s major war objectives having been reached despite a year-long genocide.

We are celebrating this moment alongside the world, but are already looking towards the future that only the global movement in support of Palestinian freedom can usher in. A ceasefire in Gaza does not mean we cease our work, particularly given the uncertain future of the ceasefire deal. The ceasefire is only the beginning. At Refuser Solidarity Network, we will not stop until we see an end to the occupation, apartheid and Jewish supremacy. Right now, we need to make sure the ceasefire deal is seen through and to ensure we do not return to an occupation of the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Netanyahu has sent Israeli forces to invade the West Bank in large numbers hoping to derail the deal, meaning we need to act now. Our growing refuser movement is well-equipped to do just that, and we need global support to do so. Join the refuser movement to demand a real ceasefire deal with a clear way out of this war by helping us grow our movement: send this newsletter to your friends and communities.

A real ceasefire deal delineates a clear way out, but the deal laid out last week is hazy and uncertain. Several questions immediately come to mind, unanswered by the deal itself, mainly: who will control the Gaza Strip? This and many other questions remain to be worked out, and could lead to the derailing of the deal at any moment. On the ground, we are working to organize existing and potential refusers to resist the war effort and demand the ceasefire come to long-term fruition. For this ceasefire to hold, we need a wave of refusers who will object to any continuation of the tragic war and genocide. Our refuser movement is also preparing to resist any sort of post-war plan that sees a return to the occupation of the Gaza Strip in any shape or form. 

We will continue to support groups like Soldiers for Hostages and other refusers, diverse in their politics, united by the immediate goal of putting a stop to this war in its totality and bringing a real end to the genocide. From there, a long road lies ahead. Join us and let your communities know about our work.

Israeli government threatens to arrest, prosecute growing refuser wave

Last month, we were excited to bring the news of over 130 army reservists publishing an open letter threatening to refuse military service unless the Israeli government concedes to an immediate hostage deal and ceasefire to end the war. War-time refusal in Israel at this scale is rare, unseen in decades. Now, the threat of a growing refuser movement is felt more than ever. The Israeli government feels the heat, and is threatening to arrest and prosecute the reservists. We are ready to back these refusers against retribution so that our movement continues to grow, and are ready to provide legal aid and assistance as we have done countless times in the past. Help us provide legal aid and assistance to protect this refuser wave against this impending backlash.

"[The letter published by the 130 reservists] needs to be suppressed with all the force and with what the law allows.” These are the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported widely across the Israeli press just last week. Yet another Israeli government minister is calling for the letter’s signatories to be jailed immediately. As our collective movement grows, the Israeli state knows that it holds the potential to grow and cripple the military by force, and it is now responding. Since the letter’s release, nearly 35 more Israeli soldiers have come forth and joined the valiant call to refuse service.

The Israeli military’s daily operations depend on reservists. They are the fighter pilots that drop American bombs on the Gaza Strip, the intelligence and logistics that make it all possible behind the scenes. The Israeli military cannot carry out its wars without them. That is why our movement is so potent: war refusal can bring the country to a standstill, no less. Historically, this is how wars are stopped in Israel.

Real opposition to the war is becoming de facto illegal in Israel right now. Palestinian citizens of Israel are regularly imprisoned for sharing posts to social media daring to even sympathize with Palestinians in Gaza. Protesters are met with police violence. We need to protect refusal as the most formidable avenue to end this war now.

If we let the government succeed, our movement is at risk. We are at a critical juncture: if we stave off the threats against the refusers, more will be encouraged to join and refuse service as well. We need our global network to stand behind us in this utterly decisive moment. Please consider donating to allow us to support refusers with legal aid.

One year into Israel’s genocide, we honor the dead through resistance

My name is Atalya, I am an activist, and I spent 110 days in jail after  refusing to serve in the Israeli military in 2017.I also manage Refuser Solidarity Network’s social media platforms “Voices Against the War”. I never thought that years later, I would be marking one year of an ongoing genocide, alongside 76 years for the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. Since the war’s outbreak,  I have taken part in and documented countless demonstrations and actions calling for an end to the genocide and the occupation of Palestine, alongside activists and refusers who continue to call for an immediate ceasefire, a just hostage deal (the release of both Israeli and Palestinian hostages) and freedom for all. But Israel has not stopped committing its crimes. Some days, I find myself consumed by hopelessness as the genocide in Gaza is livestreamed to a world that marches on. But I also know that it is my duty as a person living here and as a civil resister to continue fighting against the occupation and against the genocide. It is my duty as a refuser myself to continue supporting the Israeli refusers who have the power to stop the genocide. Join me and support the Israeli refuser movement by signing our solidarity statement, and send it to your communities.

While Israel debases those who were murdered on October 7 – and those still alive and in captivity –  by continuing its genocide in Gaza, we insist in honoring them through our resistance. As words fail us, as we try to grasp for the ability to describe unseen levels of immiseration and displacement, little room remains for symbolism. All we have is our resistance against the occupation, apartheid and genocide, our only remaining tool to honor the memory of those lost and save those waiting to come home to their families, Palestinians and Israelis alike. 

Our struggle is one that is in total solidarity with Palestinians themselves fighting for a different future, one of justice for everyone from the river to the sea. We fight so that the oppression before October 7, the atrocities of October 7, and the genocide that followed it will never happen again. Our vision of honoring the dead is to fight for the lives that they could have lived, insisting on the conditions that could have allowed them to keep on living. As Israelis, we recognize that the victims of the October 7 attacks lost their lives on the altar of Jewish supremacy, a system maintained on the backs of the Palestinian people. That is why we continue to see refusal as the way forward. This is the only path that allows for Israelis to refuse the state of affairs, to refuse to kill and be killed, to refuse to oppress in the name of ethnic supremacy, revenge and an illusionary sense of safety.

Join us and support the Israeli resistance, not the genocide. Your support allows us to bring more war refusers into our movement, and to offer an alternative for the growing number of Israelis who recognize that we need a different path forward. Please sign and share our solidarity statement with your community, and let the world know you back war refusers in Israel and the world over.

In solidarity,

Atalya Ben-Abba

Social Media Coordinator

Refuser Solidarity Network

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers threaten to refuse to fight in Gaza

Mattan here. I am the executive director of RSN and in 2017 I spent 110 days in prison because I refused to serve the Israeli occupation. A few weeks ago, Refuser Solidarity Network warned that hundreds of Israeli soldiers were on the brink of joining the growing refusers movement amid Israel’s forever war in Gaza. Now, 130 soldiers have published an open letter and are threatening to refuse to serve unless a hostage release deal is signed immediately, and in effect, a ceasefire deal that could put a stop to Israel’s assault. Many of the signatories have already declared their refusal. For over 20 years Refuser Solidarity Network has provided crucial legal and strategic support to all Israeli refusers. As an organization that supports all war refusers, we must answer the call once again. That is why we are urgently requesting our supporters consider donating to bolster our movement. 

130 Israeli soldiers and reservists signed onto the open letter that came out just this week. Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they are boldly conditioning their continued service on the signing of a deal for the release of hostages and an end to the war, the first mass wave of Israeli soldiers refusing service in protest of war and occupation seen in recent years.

“We, reserve and regular servicemen and servicewomen, officers and soldiers, hereby declare that we cannot continue under these circumstances. The war in Gaza is sentencing our kidnapped brothers and sisters to death.

On that cursed day, October 7th, we awoke to a terrible and indiscriminate massacre, in which more than a thousand were killed and hundreds were kidnapped. We immediately enlisted to fight in our country’s defense and to rescue the hostages held in Gaza.

It is now clear that the continuation of the war in Gaza not only delays the return of the hostages but also endangers their lives: many hostages have been killed by IDF bombings, many more than those who have been rescued in military operations.

We, who have served and continue to serve with dedication, risking our lives, hereby announce that if the government does not change course immediately and work towards securing a deal to bring the hostages home, we will not be able to continue serving.

For some of us, the red line has already been crossed, and for others, it is rapidly approaching: the day when, with broken hearts, we will stop reporting for service.

We call on the government: Sign a deal now to save the living hostages!”

The letter makes the choice faced by Israeli society very clear: it’s either the hostages or the war, a recognition of the value of life or an insatiable hunger for more destruction. Faced with such a clear choice, this new refuser wave will only serve to mobilize more people to refuse in order to bring a stop to the mass slaughter in Gaza. It is important to remember that this letter is directed at the Israeli public, using language that resonates within contemporary Israeli discourse with the power to end the war now and force a ceasefire deal. The letter poses fundamental questions for Israelis: Who are we dying for? Are war and death more valuable than our own lives? Is any of this in our interest? How much longer are we willing to sacrifice our own lives and those of our children on the altar of Jewish supremacy? We cannot pretend that the price of war, occupation and the ongoing Nakba borne by Palestinians and Israelis is symmetrical, quite the opposite. But we also know that overcoming the regime of ethnic supremacy in Israel/Palestine requires that Israelis also grapple with the price paid by a society which exists at the expense of another.

This new refuser wave is now pushing the most plausible challenge to the war from within Israel, more than even the mass Israeli protest movement pushing for a hostage deal. Unlike protest movements, there is a much longer history of the Israeli government bending to the demands of refuser movements. With your support, we can end this war now. Join us in supporting the refusers by making a donation.

Israel tried to fire a refuser from his job, but we didn't let them

Over the last week, the refuser and educator Ofer Shorr was targeted and attacked by a right-wing city mayor and the Israeli Ministry of Education, who tried to fire him, because he published a video stating that he will refuse again as he did in the past. After a campaign that was supported by Refuser Solidarity Network, we won! Ofer Shorr can go back to his job, educate students and continue to express his political views and talk about refusing. This is an achievement not just for Ofer but for the entire anti-war movement, a push back against the deterioration of freedom of speech and expression. Write a letter of support and congratulate Ofer here, and encourage your communities to join you by forwarding this newsletter.

Ofer refused in 2003 during the second intifada. Over the last year, he took part in AniSiravti (“I refused” in Hebrew), a new initiative of older reserve refusers who are running social media campaigns with video statements of past and present soldiers declaring their refusal of the occupation, apartheid and war on Gaza.

In his video he said: "Every time I did reserve duty and experienced the occupation, I became more depressed. I saw that this had no connection to security. It was a matter of power and control.” When the Second Intifada broke out, "it was a breaking point for me. I decided I would no longer do reserve duty in the occupied territories."

His resonant message was met with harassment from students and teachers at his teaching job, followed by calls to be fired by the city’s mayor. Days later, he was summoned by the Education Ministry, and was barred from entering the classroom without any legal basis. This is obviously not the first time we’ve seen and reported on the political persecution of educators here in Israel. many others who are part of a much longer history of the state threatening people’s very livelihoods to squash their dissent. At least 35 cities, towns and universities have taken disciplinary actions against teachers and professors since October 7.

Now, Ofer is refusing to give in to the political witch hunts barring him from his livelihood. “I'm coming to do my job, and they're supposed to let me do it. I won't sit at home being afraid," he says. Israel tried to silence him but it backfired them. “Ani Siravti” backed by RSN, started a campaign to support Ofer with legal aid, press and media campaigns. After two weeks of intense campaigning, the Ministry of Education backed down from its demand. Ofer is back in the classroom.

Despite the campaign’s success, being a refuser and a dissident is hard and straining and it will not end there. Even after the actual act of refusal itself, many Israeli refusers experience persecution and social isolation. Let's show Ofer he is not alone by sending him a support letter.

Refuser Solidarity Network stands behind Ofer and his fight. Through legal aid, press and media campaigns, we are determined to support any refuser in their fight for freedom, equality and justice for all from the river to the sea.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza

Shimri here. I am a war refuser, I spent 21 months in an Israeli prison at the age of 18, and today I serve on the board of Refuser Solidarity Network, supporting others who refuse. In the past few weeks we are seeing an unprecedented wave, hundreds of soldiers that are refusing the war in Gaza. Such waves ended Israeli wars against the Palestinians at least twice in the past. Refuser Solidarity Network is aggressively supporting these groups, providing financial, legal and organizational help. We have done so for over 20 years, and will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come, until this war ends. You can help us and the refusers groups end this war.

RSN Chairman of the Board Shimri Zameret, second from right, stands among fellow Israeli draft refusers amidst the Second Intifada, 2003.

I am writing this to tell you some of the stories of these new refuser groups. Refusal Solidarity Network is proud to be the only international group supporting this wave of resistance. Beyond funding for lawyers, for press and social media campaigns, we are helping them to build an infrastructure of mentorship and support, often provided by older military refusers to the new refusers. We are helping them build a community of resistance to the war. Refusers numbers are currently growing exponentially, and if they continue to grow, they will end this war (as refusal movements have done in the past). It’s our moral duty, therefore, to both Palestinians and Israelis, to help these new refuser groups in any way we can. 

I want to tell you a bit about these groups, although we will no doubt tell you more about them in the coming weeks and months, as they take shape and continue to expand and take action.

One such group includes over 40 reserve soldiers “(Michtav Hamiluimnikim”) who signed a public letter declaring refusal to military service shortly before the invasion of Rafah, a large city in the Gaza Strip. They were interviewed widely by mainstream press in Israel and the world,  including a front page story in Haaretz daily, an interview to the Guardian and the Washington Post, and a long CNN piece. Another group of soldier refusers is being organized as I write this, a refusal statement calling to end the war. Invitations to sign their new refusal letter are circulating widely on social media and whatsapp groups, as well as face-to-face in anti-war vigils across Israel. While the number of signatories of this new refusal statement is not public yet, it is already clear this will be one of the biggest groups of soldiers refusing in Israel’s history. And they need our help.

Another group we are supporting is AniSiravti (“I refused” in Hebrew), a new initiative of older reserve refusers who are running social media campaigns with video statements of past and present soldiers declaring  their refusal of the occupation, apartheid and war on Gaza. Last week, a member of the group, a middle school teacher and former military refuser called Ofer Shor, was targeted by the mayor of the city where he lives, an ultra-nationalist politician which wrote a letter to the Israel’s Education Ministry trying to get Ofer fired from the school where he works because a video of Ofer published online on the group’s page stated that he would refuse today, as he has done in the past. After the incitement by this right-wing politician, Ofer was met with riots and threats to his safety by students and teachers at his workplace. With your backing, Refuser Solidarity Network is supporting the campaign AniSiravti is running in support of Ofer, a campaign involving legal action, social media and press actions, a campaign protecting Ofer and amplifying his courageous act.

As someone who researches and teaches strategy of social change and war resistance in the University of Michigan, I know that historically, such waves of refusal were front and center of war resistance movements that ended Israeli wars and Israeli atrocities (This happened at least twice: in 1982, helping to end the Israel-Lebanon war and in 2002-3, helping to end the second Intifada). Reservists are the backbone of the Israeli military, having been called up in great numbers to fuel Israel’s war effort: reports suggest that the majority of Israel’s over 400,000 reservists have been called up for service since the war’s outset. The Israeli army relies on reservists on all fronts: from ensuring the army’s day-to-day functioning to flying Israel’s warplanes in order to bomb the Strip. The army cannot carry on with business as usual without them, which is why theirs is such a powerful act of resistance, an act we should support.

If you read all the way to the end of this email, I want to say a few words about the most effective kind of support you can give the refusal movement. The best kind of support is one that, like the Refuser Solidarity Network, is there for the long haul, for years and decades to come. Even small monthly plans are what helps us and the Israeli refusal movement to plan and work for the long term, for the long years it will take not just to end this war but end Israeli rule over the Palestinians. This is our goal and we will, eventually, achieve it. So please set up a monthly support plan if you don’t already have one. And please consider increasing the level of your gift if you already have a plan. I am asking this so directly because, with all honesty, this unprecedented war and wave of war refusal is forcing Refuser Solidarity Network to fundraise and spend more money than ever before. We truly need your help to end this war.

In solidarity,

Shimri Zameret
Chairman of the Board
Refuser Solidarity Network

No hiding behind war profiteering: demand an arms embargo now

Just as the British Foreign Secretary arrived in Jerusalem last week to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, he was met with the sight of war resistance activists chaining themselves to the gate of the British Consulate. Amid a choir of Western diplomats whimsically calling for an end to the war with little to show for their efforts, activists backed by the Refuser Solidarity Network reminded the UK that it’s their weapons being fired in Gaza. Israel's chief international backers – and weapons supplier – cannot charade between sensible calls for “peace” and continuous weapons shipments streaming into Israel’s ports. Activists’ message was simple: you can either stop the war or continue to profit from it. Join us in calling on the UK and the world to immediately cease weapons sales to the Israeli military by sharing activists’ powerful words on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 

"We’re here today to demand that the British government pressure the Israeli government to cease its relentless bombings and the killing of civilians that are cynically called collateral damage,” war resisters declared outside the British consulate. “We call on the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to do the job that he has come here for today. To reach a ceasefire in Gaza, to release the hostages, and to stop a regional war. This cannot happen whilst war profiteering continues.”

The UK has already begun to pivot on its support for the war on Gaza, vowing to restore funding to UNRWA and backing down on challenging the International Criminal Court’s right to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. The British government’s recent moves are welcome, yet it remains among several nations publicly calling for a ceasefire while providing Israel with a steady flow of weapons deals. Cutting off the West’s unchecked stream of arms, which travel from Israel’s ports to the mass graves of Gaza, is the most important tool that the UK, Germany and U.S.’s immediate disposal to put a direct halt to these crimes. Our lives, Palestinians and Israelis, depend on it.

"Look at these women, men, children and elderly people in the eye, and stop being accomplices to the Israeli military machine. We demand that the British government stop arming Israel, put pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire deal, allow Gaza to recover, bring back the hostages and start the process that will bring us all security, peace and justice from the river to the sea."

Activists’ target was not just the British government per se, but the very sloganism emanating from world leaders which is costing us our lives; in Gaza, on the Lebanon border and in the Golan Heights. Refuser Solidarity Network will continue to back those on the front lines of our struggle against genocide and unfettered war profiteering built on Palestinian death, and we will continue to hold the powerful to account, both on the ground in Jerusalem and across the world with your help. We support activists logistically and financially, providing them the infrastructure to confront the Israeli war machine from within.

By sharing their call to your networks, you can amplify their collective rejoinder that the war in Gaza is in fact not very far from any of us. Whether in New York, Berlin, London or Tel Aviv, we are all part of the economic flows funding this genocide. The flip side of this ominous fact is our collective ability to stop this genocide and so much more, with complicity comes the reverse ability to withhold and to actively refuse. Wherever you might be, you can join Israeli activists' calls for a total arms embargo. We are counting on you to spread their call abroad through your networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our lives depend on it.

Building a New Refuser Movement

Mattan here. A powerful anti-war movement is measured in the range of voices that carry its message. And Israeli refusers are uniquely positioned to level a critique from within: another way is not only possible, but necessary, both to bring the hostages home tomorrow and think through a viable future beyond. That is the very clear message war refusers (conscientious objectors) like Yuval Green, who recounted his experiences in Gaza in our last newsletter, have put forward. Since Yuval and dozens of others signed a public letter declaring their intent to refuse military service, they have been interviewed by several Israeli newspapers and even appeared on live television, their message reaching living rooms across the country and changing the reality.

Since then, Yuval and others have also found their way to newsrooms and papers across the world, calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and the return of the hostages on CNN and ABC News. Palestinians have long said what is becoming clear to Israelis themselves: Israelis have nothing to gain from ever-increasing militarism, endless war and regional escalation. Israeli refusers are now bolstering this message internationally, single-handedly disarming critics who charge the anti-war movement with claims of antisemitism and a disregard for Israeli life. Quite the opposite, Yuval and others’ refusal to serve is driven by the sanctity of both Palestinian and Israeli lives, and the realization that one cannot sustainably come at the expense of the other. Ahead of a fast-approaching ceasefire negotiation summit that Israel will attend, Yuval spoke to a CNN anchor on live TV.

“I know that right now, when deals are refused by Israel, we have to tell our government to stop the war, this is the only right solution to save the lives of Palestinians that are dying everyday and going through a living hell in the past few months, saving the lives of Israeli soldiers that are now present in Gaza and dying everyday, and obviously the lives of hostages … It’s a matter of life and death.”

The new refusers are building a movement to end the war on Gaza. As an Israeli organization, their focus is on Israelis. They tell them the bitter truth: this war will kill the remaining hostages, lead to more suffering and death, and destroy the chance for a better future. This is a message that can resonate with a wider audience in Israel and increase the number of refusers. Soldiers are essential to sustaining Israeli government policies. Without them, there can be no war and no occupation. That’s why the movement they are building has the potential to transform the horrors of the war into a future of peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians.

As they build their movement, the new refusers require support. That’s where we at Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN) come in. We were founded during the Second Intifada to support a similar refuser organization and have been backing refusers ever since. Based on more than twenty years of experience, we’re providing the new group with everything they need to be as effective as possible. As well as providing direct financial assistance, we help with other immediate needs like media outreach and legal aid. We work with them to build their capacity to grow the movement and to devise strategies for long term resilience. 

We need you with us. Please donate, if you can, so that we can be there for the refusers at this critical juncture. Together we can help build a vibrant movement and bring a better future for all.

I fought in Gaza, and I am part of the growing refuser wave | Refuser Solidarity Network

42 active reservists in the Israeli army have threatened to refuse conscription in the shadow of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, signaling a growing refusal to participate in Israeli war crimes. We are here to bring you these new refusers’ stories, and why they turned to refusal as their tactic to resist the war. War refusers are diverse, both in their backgrounds and in their politics. While our beliefs do not always strictly align with that of every new refuser, we do believe that war refusal is a radical act, and that war refusers’ motivations ought to be documented. We at the Refuser Solidarity Network look forward to bringing you up-to-date news and stories from the growing refuser wave, and thank you for your support.

Nearly 10 months into Israel’s assault on Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, but the Israeli hostages have yet to return home. My name is Yuval and I live in Jerusalem. For the past 6 years I served as a combat medic paratrooper in the Israeli army. First as conscript and later as a reservist. I am also one of 42 reservists who published an open letter of refusal following Israel’s invasion of Rafah in May. We vowed to refuse future draft orders because of our country’s continued assault on Gaza and unwillingness to accept a deal that would bring the hostages home. Now, we need your support: Sign this petition supporting me and other refusers of the war on Gaza.

I've always had moral conflicts regarding my service. They were inevitable, stemming from the everyday injustices carried out by our military in the West Bank, or from serving in Hebron myself, a city where Israel’s unjust policies are at their most visible.Only after I finished my mandatory service,with the guidance of the “Freedom School” program I participated in, I began my journey learning more about the history of our conflict and began questioning some core beliefs that so many Israelis hold, recognizing much denied hard truths, regarding the historic wrongs Israel has dished out to the Palestinians. In the process, I began to question the strongest Israeli consensus: that of the military.

Before the shock of October 7th, I was already on the path to becoming a refuser. I was planning to leave my unit, where I served for years alongside close friends, by telling my friends that I was  leaving after the holidays. When the war suddenly broke out, a day before I planned to leave, it changed everything.I was shocked, as anyone else, to hear about the horrific massacre Hamas carried out on the 7th. And when my unit was recruited, I joined them; I could not leave my friends as their medic. I felt that I needed to help guard the innocent civilians that were attacked in their homes.

At the war’s outset, I was serving in some of the Israeli towns that were destroyed during the attack. We witnessed houses burned down, cars punctured from bullets, destruction everywhere. Nearly everyone I know, including myself, lost someone that was close to them, most of which were unarmed civilians. Those traumatic events have brought Israeli public opinion to the darkest point I've ever seen. Denying the very existence of innocent civilians has become mainstream, and demands to ignore international law and abandon any and all past restraint grow louder. Ten months into the war, the realization of those ideas into government policy has become clear.

The level of destruction I saw in Gaza was beyond all imagination. Daily Israeli bombings killed countless civilians, and even some of our own hostages while completely destroying all of Gaza’s infrastructure. As time went by, my qualms grew larger, especially when I went inside Gaza myself, while Israel chose to refuse a hostage deal in exchange for ending the war.

Our daily lives in Gaza were carried out in people’s homes, where I felt the absence of the Palestinian families who were forced to flee, and I was left sitting among their belongings. We used those homes to protect ourselves from Hamas’s snipers, but tactical decisions ended up mixing with soldiers' sentiment of revenge: the homes we stayed in were vandalized, graffiti was done, and small souvenirs were taken from each home. When my commanding officer ordered us to burn down the house we stayed at, justifying his orders with military reasons not nearly legitimate enough to take away the home of a few families, I declared that I’m not willing to participate and left.

The day-to-day reality I witnessed on the ground, as time went on, with the hostages still in captivity reminded me that when given the option, Israel is only willing to resort to military force. This was on full display well before the invasion of Rafah, and only further underscored on numerous occasions by an Israeli government unwilling to end the war in exchange for the hostages. When the nation has the opportunity to use other tools at its disposal – diplomatic, for one – it’s not ready to do so, even against popular will. For Netanyahu, whatever plan exists to save the hostages is merely a selling point, even if that means reducing the lives of the remaining hostages to a PR strategy.

My experiences in Gaza, those from before the war, and the sights we've seen after the 7th of October massacre, have all led me to believe that militarism is only a source of pain, for both Palestinians and Israelis. I'm Israeli and I consider myself pro-Palestinian, and know that the establishment of a Palestinian state is the only just solution to the occupation. The tragic massacres on October 7th cannot be justified. Never. Exactly as the destruction we're now seeing in Gaza cannot. That’s why I believe in differentiating between supporting the Palestinian people and supporting Hamas, violence or intifada. Not only is violence never justified, Hamas and its horrific actions have only brought destruction upon Gaza. 

In the name of nonviolence, I also believe that war refusal offers hope. Not only to end the assault on Gaza, but to also rehabilitate communities in the “Gaza envelope” by breaking the endless cycle of suffering. Please voice your support for us by signing this petition in order to send a clear message: the world stands behind Israeli war resisters. If you’ve already signed it, please consider sending it to your friends and family.

41 Israeli reserve soldiers refuse to take part in invasion of Rafah | Refuser Solidarity Network

Mattan here. I am the executive director of RSN and in 2017 I spent 110 days in prison because I refused to serve the Israeli occupation. Two weeks ago, I shared our belief that a new wave of refusal was imminent. I urged our members to sign our petition supporting Israeli conscientious objectors. Thanks to them, it now has over 1,700 signatories. Our members sent a clear message to Israeli refusers: “We have your back”. 

Last Friday, the first concrete move in this refuser wave went public. 41 Israeli reserve soldiers published a letter declaring that they refuse to take part in the assault on Rafah, endangering uninvolved civilians, the hostages, and themselves. Below is the full text of their letter.

“We are reserve soldiers who have been called up for duty since October 7. On that morning we woke up to a terrible and indiscriminate massacre where hundreds of civilians were murdered and kidnapped. We enlisted out of a deep feeling of commitment and necessity. We took part in the war effort in order to protect our home, and to ensure the security and wellbeing of our lives, the lives of our families, and the lives of all Israel’s citizens.

For over half a year we’ve been in a state of war, and yet more than 120 are still held in Gaza by Hamas. The half year in which we took part in the war effort has proven to us that military action alone will not bring the hostages home. Every day that passes endangers the lives of the hostages and the soldiers still in Gaza, and does not restore security to those living on the Gaza and northern borders.

As we write this letter, the invasion of Rafah has begun. This invasion not only endangers our lives and those of innocent civilians in Rafah, but will also not bring back the hostages – whose rescue is one of the main reasons we enlisted – alive. It’s either Rafah or the hostages, and we choose the hostages.

Therefore, following the decision to prefer the invasion of Rafah over a hostage deal, we, reservist soldiers, declare that our conscience will not allow us to enlist, and that we will not lend a hand to the abandoning of the lives of the hostages and the torpedoing of another deal.

The time has come to choose life, to invest all our efforts and resources in negotiating a deal that will bring back the hostages and restore the security of the State of Israel. ”

It's important to remember that this letter is directed at Israelis, using language that resonates within internal Israeli discourse. As such, it has the power to influence change and ultimately help end the horrors in Gaza. Refusal, regardless of the reason behind it, has the potential to end the war.

This initiative marks the start of a refusal wave and others will follow. The growing number of refusers will increase the amount of resources required to support them. We at RSN are launching a crowdfunding campaign with a goal of $30,000 to meet these needs over the next six months. The campaign will fund legal and psychological aid to refusers and war resisters, the amplification of their voices, and support for their direct actions.

Our members helped inspire these refusers to take a stand, please continue showing them we have their back. Consider donating if you can. Every donation makes a difference.  

In solidarity,

Mattan Helman

Executive Director

Refuser Solidarity Network

A refuser wave is on the way | Refuser Solidarity Network

Mattan here. I’m the Executive Director of Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN) and an Israeli refuser. Over the last few weeks, there's been a noticeable shift in Israeli public sentiment and we’ve received signs indicating the emergence of a new wave of refusal. Increasingly, Israelis view the ongoing fighting not merely as a matter of self-defense aimed at bringing hostages home, but rather as an enduring political war with a right-wing agenda. Moreover, there's growing exposure to the harrowing realities in Gaza, a first for many Israelis. These developments have led to a rise in acts of refusal, particularly among reservist soldiers, some of whom are now expressing their refusal publicly. You can show your support by signing the petition provided below and spreading the word among your friends.

Criticizing Israel, refusing to participate, or showing support for refusers often leads to persecution. Shortly after our last newsletter was circulated, a right-wing Israeli news channel, Channel 14 TV,  published an article targeting myself, RSN, and our partners, to intimidate us. Subsequently, right-wing groups called for the dismissal of individuals from their jobs because of their ties to refuser organizations. Although more than one hundred people have refused to fight in Gaza since October 7th, an estimate reported from our partners on the ground, the majority have refrained from doing so publicly.  

In light of this challenging atmosphere, many refusers prefer to refrain from publicly refusing. It's crucial for us to demonstrate to them that they are not alone, that support exists, and that we will stand by them during difficult times. From personal experience when I refused to serve in the military, 6 years ago, getting letters of support was very important to me. When I was feeling alone and disheartened, the dozens of letters from all over the world strengthened my spirit and gave me the power to carry on the fight.
 
This is where your assistance becomes invaluable. We implore you to lend your support by signing our petition and sharing it with your friends and family. The petition's message reads:

“TO: Israeli conscientious objectors,

We, citizens of countries around the world, support your brave decision to refuse to take part in the Gaza genocide despite the persecution you face.

Not only is refusal to participate in war crimes a moral imperative, it is crucial to ending the horrors of the war. By withdrawing your cooperation and disobeying, you are undermining Israel’s ability to continue destroying Gaza.

We want you to know that many around the world support your courageous action, and hereby vow to help you in any way we can. Together, we can end this massacre.”

We at RSN are committed to supporting the refusers. They need all the support they can get as they stand against the Israeli army and face persecution. Sign the support petition and send it to your community.  Let's show refusers, as well as those considering refusal, that they are not alone, and that we have their backs!

In solidarity,

Mattan Helman

Executive Director

Refuser Solidarity Network

The problem is not a specific soldier, it is the entire army | Refuser Solidarity Network

Mattan here. I am the executive director of Refuser Solidarity Network and an Israeli refuser. I am writing to you as I would like to let you know how actions of the U.S. government against the war, can distract from the root of the problems, the Israeli systematic oppression of the Palestinians.

After months of a devastating massacre of Gaza and hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli hostages, the Biden administration is continuing to support the Israeli military and approved a significant $26 billion military aid package. However, amidst this financial support, there's a notable shift in policy. As a measure to address concerns regarding human rights violations, the administration plans to impose sanctions on the Netzach Yehuda battalion, barring them from utilizing US weapons. This move comes in response to mounting evidence of murder and abuse of Palestinians by this specific battalion. Yet, for many activists, myself included, this action falls short of addressing the root issue and minimizes the actions of the Israeli army. 

Before I refused to serve and spent 110 days in prison, people tried to convince me to join the army so I could be the "nice soldier" at the checkpoints. They believed I could make a difference in how Palestinians were treated and many served in the army for that reason. As if the oppression, occupation or massacre can be moral if the soldiers were more moral. The truth is, there is no moral form of oppression. It is not about individual soldiers or units in the West Bank or Gaza and how they treat the Palestinians, it is the fact that there are soldiers there in the first place. The whole Israeli military is responsible for systematic oppression, occupation, massacre in Gaza and ethnic cleansing.

While sanctioning the Netzach Yehuda battalion is a start, it's not enough. We need to stop President Biden from giving weapons to the Israeli military until the Israeli oppression ends. This isn't just about one unit; it is about making real changes to prioritize the end of this massacre, bringing the hostages back to their families and finding a way to freedom, equality and justice for everyone on this land.

Israeli resistance has the power to end the massacre in Gaza and years of oppression.  As I have always said: no soldiers, no oppression. But we need your support. We need the international community to support Israeli resistance and not the continued bloodshed.

Together, we can continue to call out these bandaid sanctions and amplify the voices of refusers and resisters of the massacre.
 

In solidarity

Mattan Helman

Executive Director

Refuser Solidarity Network

AniSiravti testifier, Itamar Shapira, states: “I'm a pawn in a game that not only does not end, with each revenge, it just intensifies.”

Itamar Shapira here. I am from Haifa, an anti-occupation/war/apartheid activist, a student and a political tour guide. I am also a testifier with the collective AniSiravti (“I refused” in Hebrew), a new initiative of past reserve refusers. We publish testimonies of past and present soldiers who declare their refusal of the occupation, apartheid and war on Gaza today in order to grow the refusers’ community. I refused to serve my reserve duty in 2004 and served about three weeks in military prison. I would like to share with you why I chose to refuse and extend a call for solidarity in finding others like me - any past and present Israeli soldier is welcome. 

I served from 1999 to 2002 in the engineering infantry squad. Our missions often led us into Palestinian villages in the West Bank, where we aimed to apprehend individuals involved in planning or executing suicide attacks on buses. Upon entering villages and homes, it was not uncommon for us to come under fire. On occasion those engaging us directly, and bystanders caught in the crossfire, were killed. 

When you enter a Palestinian village, just like they entered Gaza today, the shooting is indiscriminate. You’re not really looking only for the terrorist. Innocent bystanders often bear the brunt of the violence. It’s not accidental, it's part of the rules of engagement to shoot anyone who may hurt you, including anyone running away from their homes terrified, if you suspect they may be carrying explosives. From raid to raid, we observed a disturbing pattern- individuals whose relatives we killed, would later perpetuate terror attacks. While revenge was never openly acknowledged, it unofficially lingered beneath the surface. Officially, we spoke about the strategic or tactical benefit of each operation, as armies of democratic states are supposed to behave. When I realized that we are actually in a cycle fueled by revenge and bloodshed, I understood that my participation did not enhance the state’s security. 

I began to imagine myself in the shoes of a Palestinian, how I would react to invasions of a foreign military blocking and killing innocent people, blocking ambulances from the injured, demolishing houses etc. I realized that as an Israeli, I was perpetuating a cycle of vengeance for the deaths of innocent people. If I was a Palestinian, I would likely seek revenge for the death of innocent people on my side. It dawned on me that I'm a pawn in a game. A cruel game that not only does not end, with each revenge, it just intensifies. If twenty years ago up to twenty people were killed in each raid or terror attack, then today we see hundreds and thousands, even tens of thousand people killed. That's why I would refuse again today.

Towards the beginning of the war I was afraid to speak out publicly. The police, government and even fellow civilians were resorting to extreme measures to suppress any opposition to the war on Gaza. But today, more than ever, it is important to show Israelis and the international community that there are refusers and resistors of the war on Gaza. When I discovered the collective, AniSiravti, I was thankful there were others speaking out. They gave me the courage to share my story. 

AniSiravti is looking for former Israeli soldiers who refused to serve and for those who found alternative ways to refuse their service (not as a political conscientious objector), and would like to publicly declare their refusal. We are looking for those who are interested in publishing a written or video testimony (with the option of remaining anonymous) of their refusal and are open to publish it on various social media platforms.

If you know of someone interested or you, yourself, would like to give a testimony, please share and sign this google form. 

Help us widen our community so we can amplify the voices of refusers in one call to end the war and the occupation. 

In solidarity,

Itamar Shapira

“We need to resist in the belly of the beast”- Gaia, an anti-occupation activist shares about police brutality in Israel/Palestine | Refuser Solidarity Network

Gaia Dan here. I am 23 years old, from Haifa and an anti-occupation and anti-war activist. I would like to share a message with you about the resistance movement here in Israel/Palestine.

The situation in Haifa has become even harder since the beginning of the war. From the seventh of October until January there were a number of attempts to organize protests here. Folks from various anti-occupation groups and I wanted to bring a strong and clear voice against the war on Gaza. Every protest ended with arrests. Some ended very violently, and some were dispersed before we had an opportunity to collect ourselves and protest, as the police were there, waiting for us. 

On the 13th of November, myself and a group of activists decided to organize a silent protest against the absolute silencing and suppression of Palestinians and Israeli human rights activists in Israel/Palestine. It was a small and peaceful action. We put black masking tape on our mouths in order to emphasize forced silencing. We were there with  posters saying- “no to gag orders” and “Hunger in Gaza will not bring security- ceasefire now!”. We sought to protest against the alarming rise of fascism growing since the beginning of the war. 

There were maybe 30 police officers and 15 activists. Although we weren’t blocking traffic, we were protesting silently, and abiding by the customs of a legal protest, the officers declared the protest illegal. They asked us to leave and threatened to begin arresting us. Of course, we decided to stay and within a few minutes they arrested a fellow activist who held a small sign written, “genocide”. 

The police were pushing us around and onto the ground. One officer yelled at me to “get out of here” and began to hit me. I found myself being dragged by a number of officers on the sidewalk. My legs scraping against the asphalt, I tried to pick myself up and heard my friends yelling, trying to stop my arrest. All of a sudden I found myself being passed from one officer to the other and then I was violently pushed into the police car. They also brutally arrested my friend. She is asthmatic and they wouldn’t allow her to get her inhaler from her backpack. During the ride to the police department they cursed us and called us traitors and profane names. They ask us how we are not embarrassed and ashamed of ourselves and said they should send us on buses to Gaza.. 

It is important for Jewish Israelis to continue to protest and stand in solidarity with Palestinians as we may be arrested from a few hours to an evening, maximum. Palestinians experience much worse. Since the beginning of the war the police have arrested thousands of Palestinians without evidence of any illegal activity. If arrested at a protest, they can be charged with incitement of violence, supporting terrorism and can be arrested or put under house arrest for months at a time. 

The very real violence and arrests that both Israeli and palestinian activists experience has made everyone fearful of speaking out and joining protests, but slowly people are beginning to gain the confidence to speak out against the war.  My hope is that we will raise our voice, one voice, against the war. 

With your help, we can bring this war to an end. Together we will continue to resist.  

In solidarity,

Gaia Dan

Together we brought the reality of the Genocide in Gaza directly to the doorstep of those responsible | Refuser Solidarity Network

Atalya here. I am a refuser myself, and the social media coordinator for Refuser Solidarity Network, and would like to share with you how your support is helping Israeli activists resist the war on the ground. You can follow the actions we support here or by sharing this email and help amplify the voices of war resisters. 

At the beginning of the month, four friends and I organized an action against the war on Gaza. We wanted to bring the reality of the Genocide in Gaza directly to the doorstep of those responsible, Israeli pilots. We brought activists against the destruction of Gaza to one of the biggest air-force bases in Israel, where the planes are stored and the pilots who bomb Gaza operate and reside. With our hands painted in red, we stood outside the base and held pictures of the faces of Palestinian children, women and men, murdered in Gaza. We wanted the pilots to see the people whose lives they are responsible for destroying. During the action we held a sign that said “The blood is on your hands,” and another sign in Hebrew that pleaded they stop the bombing of Gaza. 

During the action, Sahar Vardi, a conscientious objector, and war-resister said: “To the pilots hiding behind the fences. We are here to remind you of the faces, the people, the children, the women, the grandmothers, the grandfathers, that are on the other end of the bombs that you are dropping from the air. We are here to remind you that they are human beings, to show you their faces and remind you of your responsibility for the results of your actions. Responsibility to the killing of more than 30,000 people in five months. But also for the people that are starving, for the houses destroyed, for the hospital, for the schools, for any possibility of life in gaza. That is on your hands!”

Being alongside fellow refusers is very valuable for me. Knowing that there are Israelis who oppose this Genocide and are willing to speak out, even in the face of arrest, accusations of betrayal and social isolation, is reassuring. More so, in such a hostile environment, the support of the international community feels priceless. Your steadfast solidarity serves as a powerful reminder that we are not alone in our struggle, that voices of Israeli war refusers resonate far beyond the boundaries of our immediate communities. This type of solidarity and resistance gives me hope that we can create a different reality here. Please share this email and this video with your friends, family and on your social media platforms so we can reach more people. Our collective power comes from our communities.

This action would not have happened without the Refuser Solidarity Network’s support, without members of RSN. We needed money for vehicles in order to bring activists to the military base, to print out the pictures and create the signs. It was really powerful that we could turn to the Refuser Solidarity Network and ask for support to make this action happen. 

Without your support and solidarity, we couldn’t do it. 

Thank you,

Atalya Ben-Abba

Social media coordinator

Refuser Solidarity Network

A new refuser initiative, AniSiravti, stories of resistance | Refuser Solidarity Network

I am excited to introduce you to an initiative that is not just close to my heart, but one that Refuser Solidarity Network is supporting as it resonates deeply with the experiences of many of us in the organization, as people who refused their military service. AniSiravti, “I refused” in Hebrew, is a resistance initiative, a community, and a collection of testimonies from Israeli men and women who choose to refuse their mandatory reserve duty, as a political and public act of resistance to the occupation and the war on Gaza.

You can sign up to create a monthly donation to support the Refuser Solidarity Network and our work with new initiatives like AniSiravti here. Monthly donations give us the stability we need to plan our work: ampflying and supporting activists in Israel.

Tom Mehagar, the founder of the project, an activist, a partner, and a father, was sentenced to four weeks in military prison in 2003, due to his refusal to serve as a reserve soldier. Like most Israelis and Palestinians in the land, he woke up with his partner and daughter in Tel Aviv to a number of sirens. Just a few hours later he was watching the horrific massacre in the south and already posting on Facebook about his predictions and fears of another severe military operation, that was yet to come, in Gaza. He writes:

Tom Mehager

“I began to question the morality and logic of the occupation after I served my full military service. During my mandatory reserve duty, I served as the commander of an artillery unit at a roadblock in the West Bank. Once I understood the main purpose of my work there was to harass and humiliate Palestinians passing through, I decided I did not want to be a part of this inhumane military system and refused to continue to serve. 

Israel is instilling a military dictatorship on the Palestinian people, committing human rights violations, collective punishment, and a siege on Gaza. At the onset of the war a few refusers and I thought about creating a platform for refusers to collectively declare their decision to refuse. Although we have been dismissed from reserve duty, we are using this platform to take  a moral stance. To proclaim - we refused in the past and would refuse again today, even after the seventh. People need to hear our voices and know that we believe there must be red lines in Israeli society. What is happening today in Gaza is horrifying and we don’t believe this level of killing and hunger will bring anyone safety, or the hostages back.”

I’d like to share with you Yonatan Shapira’s testimony, a fellow refuser from the project:

“We conducted targeted and intentional killings and murders of civilians. At first I tried to explain it to myself in different ways…I didn't have direct contact with the acts of killing, I was a search and rescue pilot. But at some point I was able to understand that it doesn't matter much whether I am doing the “clean job” or the less terrible one and a pilot in another squadron shoots in the middle of the night and slaughters an entire family. These things horrified me and quite a few other pilots in the air force at that time.. a letter was organized later known as the pilot’s letters… We declared that we refuse to continue to be a part of the oppression and occupation and the murder of innocent people. This was 21 years ago and we were talking about isolated incidents here and there, one, two, ten, fifteen, twenty people, some children here, some children there. Today when Israel carries out a genocide in Gaza on full scale, with around thirty thousand murdered, over ten thousand children, who knows how many thousands lying under the ruble, some dead, some slowly dying from hunger and injuries, it’s clear that I would also refuse today.”

These stories of resistance need to be heard and AniSiravti has the power to bring them to light. Please help us with a monthly donation plan to sustain our work, and build and support this new community of reserve duty war resisters. You can donate here. 

In solidarity, 

Maya Eshel 

International Solidarity Coordinator 

Refuser Solidarity Network