Looking for Trouble

Young Israeli prisoners of conscience show nation’s positive side

Israel gets a lot of bad press these days, and rightfully so given, among many other things, it’s refusal to seriously move forward on a negotiated peace settlement with Palestinians. But sometimes we need to be reminded that Israelis, like a lot of us, don’t necessarily agree with their government.

Today, I found a great reminder of that while scrolling through facebook.

An American grad student posted the following message and video:

“A year ago today, tens of thousands demanded the release of Israel’s youngest prisoners of conscience, the Shministim. These 12th graders courageously chose prison time over serving in the occupying Israeli army, and became heroes to us and the entire world.

“Last Chanukah, just one day after Tamar Katz was released from …solitary confinement, the young Shministim gathered to celebrate and to decide how to thank the 20,000 (and counting) Jewish Voice for Peace members who wrote letters, attended rallies, and wrote articles on their behalf.

“This is the message they carefully wrote together. One year later, as Shministit Or Ben-David sits in prison in Israel, and as Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the last night of Chanukah, it seems appropriate to share it with you again. We can’t imagine a more important message during this festival of lights.”

Shministim means “twelfth-graders” in Hebrew. In Israel, military service is mandatory after high school for young women and young men. The Shministim are Israeli youth who refuse to serve in the army because it enforces Israel’s 40-year occupation of the Palestinian lands.

There is an ongoing campaign in Israel among some high school graduates to sign public letters explaining why they refuse to serve. Many Shministim letters have been written in past years, and dozens of youth have signed the current letter for Shministim 2010. About 100 students signed the refusal letter in 2009.

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that sponsors the Free the Shministi campaign, any “youth who sign the letter face jail terms in Israeli military prisons. Terms range from 21 to 28 days; those who refuse to wear a military uniform while in jail are sent to solitary confinement for the duration of their term.

After completing their sentence, they are then drafted again and if they refuse a second time, as most do, they face the same sentence. This can be a repeated process in which Shministim return home for a few days or longer and are then drafted and then imprisoned. Even through they refuse to serve, they still in a sense ‘belong’ to the military until they receive their discharge papers. A Shministi may never receive these papers, and although the Israeli military may tire of re-calling objectors into prison regularly, without these papers, an objector’s fate is always uncertain.
There is literally no end to the number of times youth might be sent back to jail.”

The Jewish Voice for Peace describes itself as “America’s largest national Jewish grassroots peace group dedicated to reaching a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on the principles of international human rights law.”

The group calls for a U.S. foreign policy based on promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect for international law; an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity; and an end to all violence against civilians

So, tonight, Or Ben-David, as you sit in an Israeli jail, I hope you know that your courage is an example and an inspiration to people all over the world, and a great reminder to us that all Israelis don’t support oppression. And here’s to brighter Chanukah’s to come. And to the grad student who posted about the Shministim, thank you.