Sofi Or is 19 years old, with very clear ideas and large, deep grayish-green eyes. He was born in Israel, where his family has settled for several generations. She considers herself lucky to have grown up in a left-wing environment and for the education she has received; Both of these things led her to reject mandatory military service for all young Israelis. This service is two years for girls and three years for boys since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
He says that his parents taught him to ask questions and not accept things as they are. For this reason, he did not assume that he had to do military service as “normal” and “a fait accompli.” From the age of 15 he decided that he would not do it. “My decision came from asking myself questions that most people in Israel do not ask,” says the young woman, sitting in a park in Tel Aviv near the University where starting in November she will study Political Science.
“When I started asking myself questions and treating the issue as a decision, and then as a political decision, I started to get answers.” In this way he came to the conclusion that, in addition to not doing military service, he wanted to reject it publicly and for it to be a “political act and resistance.”
Or thus became one of the few refuseniks of Israel, who face military trials and prison sentences for refusing to serve in the Army. She was sentenced to 20 days in prison twice consecutively and then to another 45 days. She is now part of the activist group Mesarvot, the Hebrew name given to girls who do not want to do military service.
How did you make the decision a political act?
On February 25, 2024, I went to the recruiting center when it was my turn to enlist and said I didn’t want to enlist. Then an Army officer asked me why I didn’t want to enlist, and it was important for me to tell him that I didn’t want to serve in an army that oppresses other people and is carrying out a war that is hurting hundreds of thousands of people.
It was important for me to say it because it is what I believe and it was also important to say it publicly to get media attention, so that my voice would reach as many people as possible, especially to young Israelis to teach them that there are other options apart from enlisting and other options apart. of the war.
Peace is an option, not just because it is the most moral option, but because it is the only option and the only one that will work.
Now, they can’t call you up again? How do you put your objection into practice?
I obtained an exemption from military service through a committee that grants exemptions to conscientious objectors, which is very difficult to obtain. I consider myself very lucky because I was only in jail for 85 days and they gave me an exemption, they could have continued calling me up indefinitely, there is no time limit.
I was told that during the war in Gaza, they did not grant exemptions to objectors because ‘we don’t deserve it.’ Two other boys who were in jail with me also got exemptions, either for conscience or for mental health.
I got the exemption at the beginning of June and since then I have been mainly talking to the international media, trying to talk to Israelis – even though they don’t want to listen to me –, giving talks, participating in panels and events and helping three others refuseniks that right now they are in and out of prison. There are three boys and it is curious because the name of our organization, Mesarvot, refers to the girls who do not want to do military service. I have been the only one in the last year and a half.
Are there more conscientious objectors since the war in Gaza began in October 2023 and the invasion of Lebanon?
If there are more people who do not want to do military service, it is because they are afraid and not because of their political thoughts. Only this year we have [en Mesarvot] to a dozen objectors, that’s more than last year.
People are getting tired of war because it is affecting their daily lives. They are ordinary citizens who live their lives and hear the sirens every day. [que alertan de un ataque aéreo] and they have to get into their safe room [un refugio que hay en muchas casas israelíes].
There is a very large movement against the Government, since the judicial reform there have been large protests throughout the country, but in those protests there are many Israeli flags: they are against the Government, but not the war. These protests oppose horrible things the Government does, but only some of them. They are not opposed to occupation, oppression, war…
During the protests against the judicial reform there was a movement of refuseniks and that issue was present in the conversations. I and a couple of other people wrote a letter in which we declared our rejection of military service for judicial reform and for the occupation, and about 300 young people signed it. Now I don’t think we would get 300 signatures. That’s why we have to raise our voice even more, because it’s rare and because this isn’t being talked about enough.
You have talked about the occupation of the Palestinian territories, the war in Gaza… Can you talk about these things freely in your environment?
I think you have to understand who you are talking to and understand what kind of message the person in front of you can or cannot digest. There are people who can hurt me if I talk about these types of things, but with most people I feel free to affirm that this conflict needs a solution and that it will not come through military means.
I think it is reasonable to say that a conflict that has lasted for decades and that we have tried to solve with military means cannot be solved by force. I think the only solution is a political solution and I tell that to the people in Israel. And I’m going to keep saying it.
When I talk to the Israeli media or people I try to convey that this conflict affects them too, they are not benefiting. We all win with peace, no one wins with war. In war there are no winners. When I try to convey a message of peace in Israel, I try to convey that peace is beneficial for everyone: either we all win or we all lose.
October 7th didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere. When you oppress people and impose those living conditions on them and give them no hope of improving them; when you teach them that the only language you speak is that of violence, which is what the Israeli Army and Government are doing… You are planting the seed of violence, which grows with more violence. When people feel desperate and have no other alternative, they do what they feel is the only option. This doesn’t justify it, but it explains it.
When Antonio Guterres said that the Hamas attacks of October 7 they did not just happen, he was accused of justifying these attacks. Do you also receive similar attacks and accusations?
Of course. I can’t say what I said without being attacked. They have accused me of being a traitor, of supporting Hamas, of being anti-Semitic… They have threatened to kill me, to rape me; They told me they should have killed me [el 7 de octubre]that my family should have been murdered; that if they had raped me, I would have understood who the enemy is…
I don’t think there is an enemy. I don’t think there’s ‘us versus them’, but rather us and them have to figure this out together. My enemy is the people who try to use force and violence to resolve this, regardless of their nationality or what side of the border they are on, because they are harming us all.
Are you going to study Political Science to try to change this reality?
I want to know more and develop my political thinking and I am interested in that career. I also hope that it will help me leave Israel. It’s the only selfish decision I’ve allowed myself to make.
I would like to go to Europe, to a country where English is spoken. Sometimes I think it’s selfish, because I think it’s important to continue fighting here, my voice is important here, but it’s hard for me to stay. It’s hard to live in a place where it’s hard for me to connect emotionally with people, where it’s hard to have a political conversation.
It is difficult to live in this society and the Government is making it increasingly difficult for everyone, for the LGTBIQ community, with sexist and misogynistic laws… Citizens here are affected like in any other country in the world that has a Government very right-wing, but this place is even worse because there is also war and occupation.
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