The end of World War II saw a massive restructuring of global power, from which the United States emerged as a new superpower. The U.S. took over many of Britain’s colonial roles including in Palestine, and its relationship with Israel since its establishment has been based in heavy militarization. In order to maintain a power base in the Middle East and secure access to the region’s resources, the U.S. has been a pivotal player in the militarization of Israel/Palestine through billions of dollars in military aid and international support. We have seen U.S. alignment with the Israeli government grow strong as both countries sink deeper into the brutality of war and occupation.
The result is increasingly militarized conditions in peoples’ daily lives, both for Palestinians living under occupation and for Israelis in a society with compulsory military service and deep indoctrination around the need for constant “defense.” This has given rise to multilayered resistance, and that resistance is growing, both in the occupied lands as well as in Israeli society.
In August of last year 100 Israeli high school students signed an open letter to the government of Israel stating they would not enter into the mandatory two years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) upon graduation and instead risk imprisonment, with another group of high school students making a similar refusal this August. These refusals were based on their unwillingness to enter into a situation where they were going to be forced to participate in the occupation of land and the subjugation of a people. These are just a few instances of a large number of Israeli youths who have decided to enter the ranks of the Refusenik movement rather than those of the IDF, while simultaneously ex-soldiers are increasingly speaking out in opposition to Israeli policy based on their own experiences.
Here in the United States a similar movement has arisen against military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan made up of youth refusing to enter the armed forces, soldiers refusing orders to deploy, veterans speaking out, and activists working in support. Groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War continuously organize thousands of current and former GI’s to demand a withdrawal of US troops, reparations for the Iraqi people, and adequate support for soldiers returning from duty. Activists and organizers work in high schools and colleges against military recruitment. And independent journalists and media outlets continue to try and tell the true stories of the US occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We look to the success of the G.I. resistance movement during the Vietnam War, where untold thousands of acts of refusal and rebellion—both publicly and under the radar—provided direct support to the resistance of the Vietnamese people and together forced an end to the war that the U.S. was no longer capable of waging. It can happen again— in Iraq, Afghanistan, and occupied Palestine.
Click on the links below for additional history and context on Israeli and US war resistance:
U.S. Resisters’ Solidarity with Israeli “Shministim” Refusers
One Refuser to Another: Israeli Refusenik to US Conscientious Objector
Video: Israeli Citizens Reject Military Service
