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.