HOME
ARCHIVE
SEARCH
DV NEWS SERVICE
LETTERS
ABOUT DV
CONTACT
SUBMISSIONS
Help the Israeli Refusniks Sentenced to Prison
by Neve Gordon
www.dissidentvoice.org
January 8, 2004
On
January 4th, an
Israeli Military Court sentenced five refuseniks, Noam Bahat, Hagai
Matar, Adam Maor, Shimri Tsameret and Matan Kaminer to one year in jail for
refusing to enlist. The judges declared that the five conscientious
objectors deserved to be harshly punished since they questioned the morality
of the military's actions and challenged the legitimacy of the occupation of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The refuseniks admitted that this was indeed
their intention, adding that they will continue to challenge the occupation.
The severity of the sentence -- which did not take into account the period
the CO’s have already served -- exposed yet again the moral bankruptcy of
the Israeli military: COs are imprisoned for over 2 years, while not a
single soldier has been convicted for
wrongful killing since the Intifada’s outbreak -- a period in which 113
Palestinian children under the age of 12 have been killed.
The Israeli refusenik movement has called upon the international community to send faxes (+972-3-5692933) to Brigadier General Gil Regev, who has the authority to revoke the sentence. A sample fax can be found at: http://wri-irg.org/co/alerts/20040105a.html
* A petition for the immediate release of the 5 conscientious objectors can be accessed at www.refuz.org.il.
Neve Gordon teaches human rights in the department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and can be reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il.
Other Recent Articles by Neve Gordon
*
An Update on the Gay Couple From Jerusalem
* Help
Save the Life of Fuad Moussa
*
Laying Siege to Empire
*
Why is the World Silent in the Face of Israeli Apartheid?
*
Sharon’s Preemptive Zeal
* Strategic Abuse: Outsourcing Human Rights Violations