2. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are
too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Judges 7 King James Version (KJV)
Conscription - Refusal
Military life is not suitable for everyone - it is a tough and strict framework, in which a person's freedom to act as he wishes and as he believes is taken away. He is obliged to obey and obey all the instructions he receives from his commanders, even if he does not believe in them and does not wish to do them.
Conscription refusers are Israeli citizens who have reached the age of military service and are not interested in the mandatory service. According to the laws of the State of Israel, every Israeli citizen who has reached the age of 18 is obliged to do compulsory service. This, with the exception of those whose religion is their art or women who have declared that they are religious and thereby exempt themselves from military service. Those who do not meet the definitions of the exemption and do not wish to be drafted, can refuse to be drafted and thus avoid the service.
Quite a few boys and girls who reach this stage in their lives, decide that the army is not the place for them. The way before those boys and girls who are not interested in military service at all, is to declare that they are conscientious objectors. The pacifist movement in the world, which opposes any use of weapons as well as the carrying of weapons, has been gaining momentum for several decades. Those who belong to the movement will strongly oppose military service of any kind, since it forces the servants to carry and use weapons.
It is important to note that soldiers who serve in rear positions, so-called "jobniks", are also obliged to carry weapons and use them, and not only combat soldiers. Every soldier in the IDF is obliged to go through training, in which he is trained as a rifleman. The most basic training, which the servicemen go through, is the 02 rifleman training, as part of which the recruits are trained in basic shooting and will later perform guard duty with a weapon. Since this is the situation and since this is the face of things, conscientious objectors will be denied any service whatsoever. These draft refusers may be exempted from service, if they act correctly and use the services of a military attorney.
The refusal movement in Israel actually started already in 1948. But it received a great response with the letters of the Shaminists in the seventies and especially during the second intifada with the letter of the pilots and the refusal to serve in the territories. In the past decade, the thin stream of refusal has continued, and it also includes girls: every year a number of girls and boys report to the BCC, inform the army authorities of their opposition to the occupation and their conscientious refusal to enlist and are sent to the military prison.
A young enlistment candidate who is not interested in enlisting is at the beginning of a difficult path in order to satisfy his desire and it is divided into two paths; One, exemption from military service and the other evasion. Exemption from military service means not enlisting in the army in a legal way, by receiving express permission from the Ministry of Defense. Whereas evasion from the army means not enlisting in the army in an illegal way, usually by forging certificates such as fictitious marriages, presenting fake medical certificates, religious recognition that is not valid and more.
Evasion from the army usually happens when the candidate for service could not find another way that would prevent him from being drafted, and therefore decided to simply avoid reporting for the day of the draft. The reasons for this may be conscientious (does not believe in holding weapons, pacifism), avoidance for reasons of convenience (for example when the person has already started a successful career and does not wish to stop it to serve in the army) and more.
When a candidate for military conscription decides not to come to conscription on his designated conscription day, he is classified as 'absent from the service without permission', and in less official language - conscription evader. This evasion leads to the issuing of an arrest warrant against him as well as the cooperation of the military police with the Israel Police in order to capture and prosecute the evader.
After the capture of a recruitment candidate who is considered a dodger, he will be required to stand trial. Depending on the circumstances, at times, it will be a disciplinary prosecution which will be conducted by IDF officers. In the prosecution, the punishments will usually be in the most severe case incarceration in a military prison or a term of imprisonment and in lighter cases a reprimand or a warning.
The prosecution will be recorded in the evader's military file and will therefore accompany him until the end of his service, but will not appear in the civil file since it does not constitute a criminal record. And sometimes, depending on other circumstances, the trial can also be conducted in a military court, in front of a judge.
In this case the punishment will be more severe - it will almost always end in imprisonment and this imprisonment will also be for a longer period of time since the court has the authority to punish for the offense of evasion with imprisonment of up to three years.
Desertion from the army is when the soldier has already enlisted in the army and joined a certain unit - but does not arrive at his base without any justifiable reason, for a period of more than 20 days. Compared to evading the army, if the person on trial is charged with the offense of 'desertion' - which is considered more serious, the punishment will be more severe accordingly and the sentence can be a suspended sentence or actual imprisonment of up to 15 years depending on the circumstances of the case. These will often lead to a criminal record which can affect the deserter later in his life.
The Conscience Committee, which consists of representatives of the IDF as well as a civilian representative, is the one that determines at the end of the day whether to grant a conscientious objection to a candidate for service in the security forces or not. The committee meets many conscientious objectors and its goal is to grant the expected exemption only to those conscientious objectors whose beliefs truly prevent of which to serve in any military service whatsoever.
In the past, there was no recognition of conscientious objectors for exemption from military service. Anyone who refused to serve due to being a pacifist would be sent to prison and would not receive any exemption whatsoever. However, over the years and in light of the rulings of the Supreme Court, the IDF now recognizes pacifism as a reason for exemption from military service. However, the IDF will not be satisfied with the statement of a Malshab, a candidate for service in the security forces, that he is a pacifist in order to earn him an exemption. In order to receive the exemption , an orderly and detailed procedure must be passed.
The court established an important proviso to conscientious objection - the proviso of selective refusal. A soldier is not allowed to refuse military service because his faith is against certain actions of the army. Thus, a refusenik who refuses to serve in Judea and Samaria, for example, will not be exempted from service but will be incarcerated. Also, a soldier who refuses to serve in a combat unit for conscientious reasons but intends to serve in a job position will not be entitled to the long-awaited exemption either. It is important to note that there are other ways to get an exemption from military service, but selective refusal is not the solution to this issue.
As of 01 December 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it will begin increasing penalties for those evading their military service and failing to join their units within two months of the war outbreak. The expected punishment is projected to range from one to three days of imprisonment for each day of absence, compared to shorter prison terms in the past.
As of late 2023, there were around two thousand Israeli soldiers who had evaded their military service, with the majority from the regular military formations. Most fled in the period preceding October 7th, reports say, adding that there are hundreds of reservists who had not joined the service since then. A reservist soldier serving in the north told Channel 12: "We suffer from shortages in food and equipment, sleep in tents and ambulances to not get cold, and were it not for the donations we would have been in a very difficult situation."
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Israeli Air Force had recalled hundreds of soldiers from the regular and reserve army from various parts of Europe to "Israel." Since the start of Operatio Iron Swords, Israel announced the mobilization of 300,000 reserve soldiers as part of its war on Gaza. This came at a time when the security establishment was considering the possibility of reducing the number of reserve soldiers and releasing some of them due to the repercussions on the market by their absence from settlements and workplaces.
Thousands of Israeli soldiers earlier announced that they would not join the service due to their opposition to the judicial amendments sought by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Numerous warnings have been issued that this would affect the deterrence and military readiness of the army.
Palestinian resistance continues to repel the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, targeting Israeli positions, soldiers, settlements, and settlers. The Islamic resistance in Lebanon also continued to target Israeli military outposts in settlements near the border with Lebanon in a show of support to Palestine, and the people of Gaza, and in response to the targeting of civilians in Lebanon.
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