Two Israeli teenagers were sentenced to 30 days in military prison this week for refusing mandatory conscription in protest of the war and the occupation. Iddo Elam and Soul Behar Tsalik, both 18-year-olds from Tel Aviv, became the seventh and eighth refuseniks to publicly oppose the draft for political reasons since October 7.
The pair arrived at the Tel Hashomer recruitment center on Wednesday to declare their refusal, accompanied by dozens of friends, relatives, and activists from Mesarvot — a refuser solidarity movement — and Banki, the youth movement of the Israeli Communist Party. They were subsequently transferred to the Neve Tzedek military prison to begin their initial period of incarceration, which is expected to be extended. Joining them was Itamar Greenberg, who is now entering his fourth period of incarceration lasting 45 days after he refused the draft in August, and has already served 105 days in prison.
“As long as we continue to enlist, follow orders, and enact our government’s rotten goals, we will live in a reality of war, annexation, and hate,” Elam wrote in his refusal statement prior to entering prison. “I want no child, no matter which side of the wall they were born, to be afraid of rockets or being kidnapped from their beds … We have to do everything in our power to make sure that the children of the future live in security.”
“We must end the war and Israel’s presence in Gaza — for the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Behar Tsalik wrote in his statement. “There may be attempts to shift our attention to Lebanon or Iran, but the reality in Gaza does not change — we are controlling Gaza. We continue the violence there and continue to forsake the hostages.” He added: “We must move from violent confrontation to a political solution. Only then can we begin to build a lasting peace.”
Military service is compulsory for Israelis over the age of 18, with women conscripted for two years and men for nearly three. Palestinian citizens are exempt, while there is an ongoing political and legal struggle over the longstanding exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Conscientious objection is exceptionally rare, and the army often sentences refuseniks to several periods of incarceration as punishment before releasing them. Since October 7, the army appears to have increased the jail time imposed on refuseniks.
The imprisonment of Elam and Behar Tsalik, and the continued incarceration of Greenberg, follows the sentencing of five other teenagers for publicly refusing the draft for political reasons since the start of the current war: Tal Mitnick, who refused in December and was released after 185 days; Sophia Orr, who refused in February and was released after 85 days; Ben Arad, who refused in April and was released after 95 days; and Yuval Moav and Oryan Mueller, who refused alongside Greenberg in August. Mueller was released after 60 days, while Moav is still serving a sentence of 125 days which could yet be extended.