By World BEYOND War, March 16, 2025
On March 16, 2025, we hosted a webinar to learn from and support Israeli conscientious objectors.
The Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN) works to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the militarization of Israeli society, one soldier at a time. They have valiantly stood by refusers serving jail sentences; elevated stories of refusers through social media, press, and email campaigns; and educated the global public on the importance of conscientious objection as a tactic.
More importantly, they help organize spontaneous refusers into coherent movements with strategies and demands. Our speakers included:
- Atalya Ben-Abba is the Social Media Manager for the Refuser Solidarity Network, managing the page @VoicesAgainstWar. Atalya refused in 2017 and spent 110 days in the military prison because she wanted to publicly condemn the Israeli occupation, and not take part in its practices. Atalya has been an activist for the past ten years, working mainly in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
- Mattan Helman is the Executive Director of the Refuser Solidarity Network. Mattan spent 110 days in prison because he refused to join the Israeli army and oppress Palestinians.
We also heard from Israeli conscientious objectors Einat Gerlitz and Tal Mitnick, who are traveling across Canada for the Anti-Zionist Refusenik Speaking Tour throughout the month of March, hosted by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) in partnership with the Mesarvot Network.
- Einat Gerlitz, 21, is a queer Israeli activist and conscientious objector. Going from a queer youth movement to climate activism, Einat gained political conscious and became a human rights activist. At 19, in 2022, she refused to serve in the Israeli military and was sentenced to 87 days in military prison. After her release she presented her story to conscientious objection at a UPR review in the UN. Since then she has been involved in various avenues of the struggle against the occupation, both in 48′ borders and the West Bank.
- Tal Mitnick, 19, is a Israeli activist and conscientious objector. In December 2023, Tal was the first conscientious objector to refuse after October 7th and his story resonated in media outlets worldwide. He served a prolonged sentence of 185 days in military prison. Tal started his activism in the protests against the judicial overhaul, initiating a mass youth refusal letter, signed by over 250 teenagers, naming the occupation as the source of the rising fascism. Currently he is organizing and supporting future conscientious objectors.
Ron VanNorstrand, Vietnam-era veteran and coordinator of Veterans For Peace Chapter 51, moderated the program. Ron initiated contact with the Refuser Solidarity Network in solidarity and support, and to inform and guide the advancement of a refuser/conscientious objector movement in the U.S.
Event sponsored by: World BEYOND War, the Refuser Solidarity Network, and Veterans For Peace – Chapter 51 (Syracuse, NY).
One Response
Israels Yad Vashem decorates non-jewish-people that helped jews to survive the WO2-Holocaust and grants them the title ‘Righteous among the Nations’. I wondered if there would still be any Righteous among the Nations in Israel itself. Thanks God there are RSN-people.
In my opinion (after reading many books about the conflict from both sides, a.o. Illan Pappe’s ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’ and Rashid Khalidi’s ‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine’) it is difficult to see why the native Palestine People should pay the bill for European pogroms and the Holocaust.
After 80 years of outright oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by zionist intruders, anything less then ‘from the river to the sea one man one vote’ (and the country will be named Palestine) is in my opinion an unbearable injustice to the indigenous people of Palestine.
I sincerely hope that the RSN-people, after doing all the necessary fact finding (if they haven’t done that already), will share this view. Any way, keep up your good works!!