Support Israeli refusers

Submitted by cathy n on 13 August, 2014 - 12:56 Author: Solidarity

A poll showed 95% of Israeli Jews believed the war to be justified. In the same poll only 3-4% agreed with the statement that “the IDF had used excessive firepower in the conflict”. In a separate poll only 10% agreed THAT it was time to stop the war. The opposition is very isolated.
Nonetheless on 26 July around 5,000 people protested against the incursion into Gaza in Tel Aviv. On 9 August protestors defied a ban to protest in the city. These and other demonstrations have faced violent right-wing opposition.

On 26 July around 300 right-wing protestors gathered alongside the anti-war demonstration in Tel Aviv. Shouting chants like “death to the leftists!”, they threw missiles and attempted to physically attack protestors.

In Haifa an anti-war protest was attacked by right-wing thugs who then beat up an Arab Deputy Mayor and his son. In Jerusalem a “Jewish-Arab unity march” from the city’s only bi-lingual school was subject to verbal abuse and in Tel Aviv a reading of ex-soldiers’ experiences by Breaking the Silence was disrupted by up to 100 right wing activists.

But the movement of young people refusing military service has grown significantly. In November 2013 Workers’ Liberty hosted a tour by Noam Gur, one such refuser. At the time she told how she was one of a handful of refusers. A letter from 150 young refusers has been published by Israeli media. Many of these young people will face jail sentences as well as backlash from their local communities. A letter from 50 people who are refusing to be called up as reservists has also been published.

The peace movement in Israel really needs our support, it is key to changing the current political climate in Israel.

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