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Israel Jails Teenager For Refusing Military Service

petran79

Banned
the country has mandatory military service, its her own fault.

whats the news here?

Not all who apply for Israeli citizenship go to the military.

Also Orthodox Jews are exempt from military service. They do not even have to work since they receive benefits from the state to pray and breed children.
 

MUnited83

For you.
In the US it's morally reprehensible for mandatory military service considering there are no actual threats to the homeland with any conventional military.

Israel has no such luxury, even if you completely disagree with/hate their government on a wide range of issues (and I do).
Conscientious objection is a human right

Arresting citizens for using that right is a totalitarian move and shouldn't be defended by anyone.
 

Chichikov

Member
This happens pretty routinely in Israel (though not commonly, if you look at percentage of the population that does that).

She didn't chose to be born and raised there, how is it her fault?
This applies literally to every single law ever. Congratulations, you have just discovered the big moral flaw of the state model. #anarchism
And to be clear, I'm not being sarcastic here.

There are less people in Israel than New Jersey. I have a lot of issues with the Israeli government but this is not one of them. This is something they've needed to do to ensure their survival.

In the US 1,429,995 is the number of active military personnel out of 323.1 million people. If those ratios held for an all volunteer Israeli military they'd have 38,000 active. That would simply not be sufficient for their defensive needs.

It sucks that it's necessary, but it is necessary.
That kinda besides the point, but Israel could move to a volunteer army quite easily, in fact, this is something that is pretty seriously debated in Israel. It's not getting done mostly for political reasons and a little bit because mandatory service allow the IDF to pay its soldiers way below minimum wage.
as a citizen you are a property of the state
serve or move
What the actual fuck?
Do you honestly believe that?
This is a very scary line of thought.
 

StayDead

Member
as a citizen you are a property of the state
serve or move

This is some straight up facist spiel from Starship Troopers I'm fairly sure.

Doesn't Israel have something like alternative civilian service if you don't want to do military service?

See, as much as I disagree with military service, I don't see a problem with this. South Korea for instance allow you to go work in the police or for the council as community service to help and teach you things.
 

zbarron

Member
That kinda besides the point, but Israel could move to a volunteer army quite easily, in fact, this is something that is pretty seriously debated in Israel. It's not getting done mostly for political reasons and a little bit because mandatory service allow the IDF to pay its soldiers way below minimum wage.
"Quite easily" is a strong phrase. Are you able to give me any articles to read up on this? If I'm wrong I'd love to educate myself on it. When I try to find stuff on if Israel could switch to a volunteer military all that comes up are links on how to volunteer in the IDF. Thanks.
 
They have some alternatives according to google but apparently simply objecting on moral grounds isn't enough to be exempt from military service

I mean if the country allows an alternative non-military service it's totally ok with me. But serving mandatory in military sounds kind of fucked up.
That's some dictatorship-like level.
 

Chichikov

Member
Doesn't Israel have something like alternative civilian service if you don't want to do military service?
They do, but Israel do not recognize political beliefs as a reason to refuse to serve in the military. In fact, they go out of their way to make example out of such people.
It's fairly easy actually to get out of military service in Israel for made up bullshit reasons, and it's especially easy for women who only have to declare that they are religious to not serve.
She is making a political statement here, she knew what would happened and she was willing to pay the price, and I respect her for that.
"Quite easily" is a strong phrase. Are you able to give me any articles to read up on this? If I'm wrong I'd love to educate myself on it. When I try to find stuff on if Israel could switch to a volunteer military all that comes up are links on how to volunteer in the IDF. Thanks.
You read Hebrew?
 

Facism

Member
Yeah in Turkey as well you will be mailed if you refuse the mandatory military service. This is pretty standard in countries that have MMS. Now, the debate as to whether MMS should be abolished is interesting (it should), but this happens all the time in countries that have it, so it isn't particularly interesting news in itself. Even though it sucks.

No idea if it's the same in The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, but as a descendant of Turkish Cypriot parents, i still have to do MMS if i'm there for over 40 days or some such, even though i'm a British Citizen. Uncle had to bribe the soldier at the airport to stop me be taken away as we left for England.
 

Ekid

Member
as a citizen you are a property of the state
serve or move

qlZYdXW.png
 
I love the fact that people think the IDF exists to exclusively kill infants. High minded debate coming down the chute in this thread, I can tell.


But would you serve? It is a question of moral. I am not arguing against or for mandatory military service in the country you are born in. You have two basic choices.

You can serve, tell yourself whatever to make yourself better; that you are doing it for the country, the situation is complicated, that you "have" to do it in order to ensure survivability of the said country.


Or you can refuse to serve, but will be branded a traitor of your said country, jailed for however long the "law" state you would be, if not forever. You will be slandered, libeled to no end and no ways to defend against it, thus your life is ruined, but, hey you stood up for your choice based on moral.
 

zbarron

Member
This is like a summary I found of the arguments on both sides -
http://cafe.themarker.com/post/2941704/

It's not a great article, but it has links to some decent ones and a link to a university course about that very question.

Ofer Shelah wrote a very good book about the subject too, but he have since completely sold out, so fuck him.

I'll take a look into it, with my friend's help if Google's translation is too poor. Thanks.
 

Weckum

Member
There's a whole organisation based on this premise, it's called Breaking the Silence. It's accounts of Israelis refusing service or the horrible things they experienced while in the IDF.

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

If you read through the stories, you see how bad it is. There's a reason Bibi and his gang hates this group, because it shows how these are not incidents like they always claim. It's a fucked up military system.
 
as a citizen you are a property of the state
serve or move

The very concept of freedom and democracy established this to be false and wrong, which is why we don't think positively of totalitarianism which is what you describe...

So yeah you're right if you believe and live in a totalitarian system where you are property of the state.
 

Chichikov

Member
There's a whole organisation based on this premise, it's called Breaking the Silence. It's accounts of Israelis refusing service or the horrible things they experienced while in the IDF.

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

If you read through the stories, you see how bad it is. There's a reason Bibi and his gang hates this group, because it shows how these are not incidents like they always claim. It's a fucked up military system.
Breaking the silence is not about refusing to serve, and they don't call on people to not serve in the military. In fact, it's all people who did serve in the IDF, the whole point of what their doing is to let people tell stories about serving in the occupied territories.
They're still good people and it's worth reading though their testimonies to understand what the fuck is going in the west bank, but that is only related to this story in the sense that both them and the woman in the OP are opposed to the occupation of the west bank.
 

Fbh

Member
Does Israel not offer other options?

In my country it's also obligatory and you can go to jail for refusing but there are options for those that have moral issues with the military.
You can do stuff like community service or I joined another state organization tasked with helping people in the case of a cathastrophe (sadly my country underspends on this and overspends on the military)
 

Raxus

Member
It is a weird requirement for citizens and even I had to register for the military in Brazil to keep my citizenship. Thankfully Brazil isn't going to war anytime soon.

That being said props to the lady for taking the consequences and following her conscious instead of just gritting her teeth and obliging this archaic law. We need more like her.
 

Weckum

Member
Breaking the silence is not about refusing to serve, and they don't call on people to not serve in the military. In fact, it's all people who did serve in the IDF, the whole point of what their doing is to let people tell stories about serving in the occupied territories.
They're still good people and it's worth reading though their testimonies to understand what the fuck is going in the west bank, but that is only related to this story in the sense that both them and the woman in the OP are opposed to the occupation of the west bank.

Oh sorry, I thought they did testimonies about people refusing to serve as well. I stand corrected
 

Nikodemos

Member
Are there penalties for getting thrown out of the military in Israel? I remember that, in some places with mandatory service, getting thrown out was equivalent to a criminal record and could worsen somebody's professional career chances.
 

Chichikov

Member
Who decides which laws are morally right or wrong and which ones are optional to follow then?
You do.
You already do it, we all do. For example, most people are generally okay with the occasional jaywalking but not with murder.
Even if you decide to follow every single law on the books, that's still your decision, the state cannot make it for you, it can just put sticks big enough to persuade you to comply.

Are there penalties for getting thrown out of the military in Israel? I remember that, in some places with mandatory service, getting thrown out was equivalent to a criminal record and could worsen somebody's professional career chances.
It's illegal to discriminate based on what you did (or didn't do) in the military. Though in practice, people still ask about it in job interviews and that can hurt your future employment prospects, especially if your refusal to serve got some publicity.
Edit: oh, and there are certain benefits that only people who served in the military get, she will not qualify for those.
 
All Gaffers that are speaking harshly against a tiny country that contains the people that have been hated and discriminated against since the beginning of time: Go ahead and move to Israel, earn your citizenship, then talk about it like you know it. I'm willing to bet the that the majority in this thread don't have to worry about potential death crossing the borders to your country at any given moment. The constant threat of it's neighbors, is why there is a mandatory participation in the military, otherwise, the military would most likely be weak, and Israel would be overrun easier, or you'd see it's allies in more conflicts in the Middle east (well more than there are now).

On the other side of that, I wish the government of Israel could find a better way to work with their neighbors and non Jewish residents.
 

Hjod

Banned
You can/will be jailed in Sweden to if you are picked to do it, but refusing. Up to one year.

I don't know the last time that happened. Maybe in the 70s or 80s.

When I did my service there were loads of people that refused, and nothing happened to them. They just told the psychologist that they didn't want to do it.
 

Nikodemos

Member
It's illegal to discriminate based on what you did (or didn't do) in the military. Though in practice, people still ask about it in job interviews and that can hurt your future employment prospects, especially if your refusal to serve got some publicity.
I see. Though I wasn't referring specifically to refusal to serve, but rather willingly pulling a Good Soldier Svejk and being dishonourably discharged due to repeated fuckups.

Edit: oh, and there are certain benefits that only people who served in the military get, she will not qualify for those.
That sounds a bit Starship Troopers-ish. That is to say, fascist.
 

Chichikov

Member
All Gaffers that are speaking harshly against a tiny country that contains the people that have been hated and discriminated against since the beginning of time: Go ahead and move to Israel, earn your citizenship, then talk about it like you know it. I'm willing to bet the that the majority in this thread don't have to worry about potential death crossing the borders to your country at any given moment. The constant threat of it's neighbors, is why there is a mandatory participation in the military, otherwise, the military would most likely be weak, and Israel would be overrun easier, or you'd see it's allies in more conflicts in the Middle east (well more than there are now).

On the other side of that, I wish the government of Israel could find a better way to work with their neighbors and non Jewish residents.
You think that you have to have lived in Israel in order to criticize it?
I think that's a crazy position to take. Do you apply it to other countries?
 

ActWan

Member
That happens like...all the fucking time lmao. It's the law.
People who go to jail for refusing are doing it to make a point and to do things by the law, without lying. Most who don't wanna serve just fake mental problems/illness and get released after talks with a military psychiatrist.
 

Daedardus

Member
If you have mandatory military service, you should have the option to let citizens do a year of volunteering in public service, at the very least.

That happens like...all the fucking time lmao. It's the law.

It's still possible to criticize the law on moral grounds. Or do we have to be okay with persecution of gays in Saudi Arabia?
 
I don't know the last time that happened. Maybe in the 70s or 80s.

When I did my service there were loads of people that refused, and nothing happened to them. They just told the psychologist that they didn't want to do it.

Being freed from it during "mönstringen" and not showing up if you have been selected to do your servivce, are two different things.

2006 dömdes 32 män till fängelse för brott mot lagen om totalförsvarsplikt, vilket Sydsvenskan skrev om. Alla fick fängelsestraff, som dock var kortare än en månad.
 
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