Tal Mitnick, the first Israeli prison for refusing a compulsory recruit after an attack on Hamas 7 October, is leaning at its headquarters at the Saint Paul University Auditorium in Ottawa.
26. December 2023. Mitnick arrived in recruitment The center in central Tel Aviv and publicly announced that he would refuse to serve the Israeli defense forces (IDF).
“I had a choice: being part of this force currently by genociding my neighbors, it is the murder of loved ones, or I had a choice to refuse,” he told CBC News.
It was detained on five consecutive 30-day sentences, maximized sentence rejection, in accordance with Israeli law.
The 19-year-old, who was released from the Israeli prison in July, on a medical basis, was a tour with a crossing in Canada with his colleagues rejected by Einat Gerlitz, who refused the military service of 2022. The couple speak of their experiences as objections of conscience, a position that has withdrawn in Israel and the interest of northern American audits. The tour, organized by local chapters of independent Jewish voices, advocate groups, lasts in cities from Quebec to British Columbia during March.
The attacks under the guidance of Hamas on October 7, 2023 were killed by about 1,200 Israelites, in what many consider the worst one -day massacre of Jews from the Holocaust. The attack encouraged the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which killed more than 48,500 Palestinians in the territory, according to local health authorities.
Some young Israelis believe that more Pacific approach would be better to bring lasting peace and the Israelis and the Palestinians.
A small but increasing number of Israelis refuses a mandatory report or returns to their military duty after the tour Gauze. But little does it publicly. Military duty is mandatory for most of Israeli men and women and refusals face prison, as well as a social and professional blow.
“Being the first public bumper [since Oct. 7] We didn’t know what the army would do with me, “Mitnick said.” I returned over and over, every time I received a maximum sentence until I reached 185 days. “
Idf ‘condemns refusal’
In a statement to the CBC News, IDF said that mandatory employment was appointed in the Law on the Earth Security Service, and the army “dedicated to the implementation of the law and employment in accordance with it”. The statement continues to say that “condemns rejection.”
As for Mitnick, IDF said that the Professional Committee found that “no conscientious reasons for his claims” to reject the application. After “fierce” he refused, he was sentenced to prison, IDF said.
Mattan Helman is the Reuta Solidarity Network CEO, an organization that supports the aversion during their sentences and provides information about their network stories. He said public rejection came with the consequences. But he encourages the practice to help spread the word that it is an option for Israeli recruits, including those who condemn the extent of violence in gauze and consider it the only way to return the Israeli hostage through an agreement with Hamas.
“We should look at this as an iceberg, there are those who publicly reject the top of an iceberg that is above the water, and most who refuses in a different way that is underwater,” Helman told CBC News via Zoom.
Although RSN has no accurate numbers on the committee, Mattan said it has “thousands”, and numbers increase from October 7, “especially with spare soldiers”.
Survivor prison
On the day of their rejection, videos and pictures of Mitnick, they flooded social media. The protest in front of his application office saw people sing and wave signs with him.
“It was strange that the protest was focused around me, I’m not very used to things that are focused on me,” he says. The teenager said he moved away from the spotlight and admits he makes him “a little unpleasant.”
But he said that moment was a turning point for his life as an activist. Here he met many of his current friends, supporters and people who would help him on his trip to prison and beyond.
“I am very blessed to have found this activist circle of people who have the same opinions as me and support me,” he said.
Weekend morning show (Manitoba)23:05Why two young Israelites rejected their mandatory military service.
21-year-old Einat Gerlitz and 19-year-old Tal Mitnick refused to serve in the Israeli army, and as a result they were sent to a military prison. They are in Winnipeg as part of their cross-country “repulsive tour” organized by the independent Jewish voices of Canada.
Mitnick said his time in prison was revolving about his ability to survive. His fellow prisoners did not know why Mitnick was in prison and he was careful in sharing his political opinions.
Some fellow prisoners eventually started recognizing him in prison, he said, adding that he denied that “that guy from a video on social networks”.
Mitnick is a self -proclaimed leftist who inspired his father, a journalist, who he said he had spent a lot of time on the Israeli west coast, accepting stories from the Palestinian side.
“Politics has always been the thing we talked about in the house,” he said. “And it was very present in the fact that something had to change.”
As for the next one, Mitnick needs a moment to formulate his thoughts as if he feels the weight of a question about his conscience.
“Inhallah, ” He says, using Arabic expression for God who is willing. “The walls will fall and everyone will live in peace and freedom.”
