Hi,
My name is Yuval Dag. I’m 20 years old and I live in a moshav in the south of Israel. Tomorrow I will refuse to enlist in the Israeli military because I am not willing to take part in the Occupation of the Palestinian territories and give myself to the Israeli state.

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I grew up a zionist. The existence of Israel, as a state and as a society no matter its actions in the past and present, has always felt self-evident to me. I never questioned it. I participated in every national holiday and event with anticipation. I enjoyed the feeling of unity and fellowship.

One day, while roaming the internet, I encountered an “anti-Israel” comment. The moment I read it, I was filled with rage. How could it be that someone dares to criticize us? We are the victims and always have been. The commentators have no way of knowing what it is like to live in our reality. But as much as I was shaken by the comment, I was even more shaken by my own reaction. I found myself offended in the name of the state, without having ever developed a conscious stance and without ever having examined my own beliefs, all because of my education and the social atmosphere I was living in. At that moment I realized that my outlook was not a product of my own critical thinking, but a product of indoctrination. At that point, I began a journey of disassembling my beliefs and examining them under a new light, in a non biased and independent form.

I began to see how, contrary to what I believed all my life, the two sides in the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” are asymmetric, and the “conflict” itself is not a conflict, but an ongoing and prolonged war. I saw that we are not the victims, but the occupiers and oppressors. I began to understand the absurdity of how we treat human lives; when an Israeli citizen is murdered, the entire nation mourns, but when 7 Palestinians are murdered by the Israeli military in one week, we do not hear a word about it, and if we do, we hurry to question the innocence of the murdered or to justify the soldier who performed the killing and who should be blamed. For us, the status quo is a relatively peaceful life with the occasional “operation” in Gaza and a wave of terrorist attacks from the west bank, but for many Palestinians, military invasions, violence, killings and oppression is the norm. I realized that Palestinians in the west bank do not live alongside the Israeli military, but under its rule. Their basic daily schedule, from the moment they wake up, whether they can go to school or work, depends entirely on the military. In a moment's notice, due to “security” concerns, Israel can put entire villages and neighborhoods under a complete lockdown, even if it means denying medicine and food to tens of thousands of people.

I realized that Israel was built on expulsion and banishment, and that the only way for it to continue existing as an national home exclusively for the Jewish people is by crushing, oppressing and silencing any element that can potentially destabilize this status, whether this element is the lives of millions of people or a symbolic flag. Everyone has the right for sovereignty, both Palestinians and the Jewish people, but no sovereignty can come at such a heavy price at the expense of so many lives.

Finally, I understood what now seems obvious to me. The body responsible for executing this project that is built on explosion and can be enforced only through oppression, is the Israeli military. Unlike the common belief, the military is not driven by pure intentions and its crimes are not the result of a few rogue soldiers. It is a body that, time after time, demonstrates hostile, racist and clearly offensive policies. Terrorism, murder of civilians and journalists, pogroms, vandalism, displacement and prevention of basic and crucial infrastructure are daily occurrences which are perpetrated by the Israeli military in the West Bank, with its help, and under its rule.

No one can overlook what happened in Huwara. It was impossible to ignore the burnt houses, the shattered windows, the dozens of wounded, those who were murdered and the soldiers who stood by. It was also impossible to ignore the Israeli minister who called for the erasure of the village after the acts. Today, more than ever, it is becoming clear to the general public how closely Israel and its policies are connected to violence and to the occupation of the Palestinian territories. The occupation can no longer be seen as incidental. It can no longer be considered as a security need. The occupation is a political enterprise operated by the army, that harms the vast majority of people who live here. It serves a racist and colonialist agenda of Jewish supremacy. Even those who shut their eyes for all these years, who tried to ignore and suppress the existence of the occupation, cannot continue to ignore it after the pogrom committed by settlers under the protection of soldiers of the Israeli army. The fact that this violence, which originates with the government, has become so transparent and unapologetic, requires us to open our eyes and resist.

Resistance begins, first of all, with self-reflection and understanding. With the understanding that by wearing a uniform and symbols of a certain body, you choose to represent that body. With the understanding that enlisting in the army is a political choice, and its meaning is to support the military and political agenda, and to take part in it. The understanding that even a small cog contributes to the system's function. The understanding that one of the Israeli military’s most central missions and roles is to be an occupying and oppressive body. The understanding that even a good person serving as a soldier in this system causes harm and suffering to the people under occupation. The understanding that even tough conscription is the default, it does not mean that it is the moral and right thing to do. The understanding that no individual alone has the ability to change the policies of a military-political body. Self-reflection should occur when every boy or girl are called to enlist. It is our responsibility to take a deep look at ourselves and decide what we are willing to stand for.

I refuse. I refuse to give my body and my life to any system, for any country, and in the current situation, especially not to the state of Israel and the Israeli military. I call on everyone who is about to enlist to recognize and face the truth. Open your eyes and look at our reality. Set aside the Israeli society’s common narrative, which has a clear interest in turning everyone into soldiers. I believe that in this reality, our only choice is to refuse.

In solidarity,

Yuval

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