Israeli conscientious objector Sophia Orr, was detained by Israeli authorities on Sunday after burning the draft order requiring her to join the Israeli military. She told the recruitment bureau in Tel Hashomer that she refuses to join the army and take part in the machine of war and apartheid. A long period of incarceration in the military prison awaits her, as she joins other Israeli young men and women who obeyed the dictates of their conscience.
TODAY: 18 y/o conscientious objector Sofia Orr declares her refusal to enlist in mandatory military service as an act of protest against the war on Gaza & the occupation, at Israeli army’s Tel Hashomer recruitment center. She was sentenced to 20 days in prison. @Mesarvot_ pic.twitter.com/Oza9qTVmQ3
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) February 25, 2024
A few days ago Sofia Orr participated in a demonstration against the occupation and against the war in Gaza, held on Tel Aviv’s on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, where she said the following words, and at the end of her speech she publicly burned the draft order she had gotten – in protest of apartheid, of the occupation and of the murderous war.
I look around me now, at the demonstrators, marchers and protesters, and I see people who are starting to wake up. To open their eyes to the rising of Fascism, to their endangered rights.
It’s time to completely open your eyes, and realize that democracy here has always been for Jews only.
The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to the repression in the Territories, the “policing” which is ostensibly for our security but in fact harms it.
We must look squarely at the Apartheid policy implemented by the State of Israel, at the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their homes, and who now see no solution and no way out.
The instrument through which Israel implements the policy of expropriation and oppression in the Territories is the army – so I will not enlist in that army.
But it’s important to me not only to avoid enlisting – but to make an explicit, public act of refusal.
Not to close my eyes to the tragedy that is happening in this country, and to do everything I can to raise awareness of it.
There is no ‘us and them’ here, there is no zero sum game according to which any harm to the Palestinians is an achievement for Israel, and vice versa.
The thought that the conflict can be resolved by force, force and even more force, is a fantasy that only leads to a cycle of bloodshed where everybody loses.
The only real “us and them” is the division between the people who understand that what’s good for one is good for the other, as opposed to the people who don’t grasp this.
The division between people – Jews and Palestinians – who understand that violence only leads to more violence. As opposed to people – Palestinians and Jews- who think only in terms of brute force.
Those who currently hold power in Israel are of the second kind. They believe in winning, and in crushing. They believe that if they just use more force, things will work out.
Israel is the strongest element of the equation, therefore it has the power and responsibility to promote a better future for both nations.
Instead, the government promotes Jewish supremacy, shamelessly seeking an annexation which would leave millions of Palestinians without basic civil rights.
That is why now, more than ever, it is important to struggle for democracy for all, and not stop at the Green Line.
The bluntness of the current government helps open people’s eyes to the price we will all pay if we continue on the path of occupation and settlement construction, the path Israel has been walking for generations.
I refuse to enlist in the IDF and help Israel implement this policy, and I refuse to do it quietly.
I choose caring and solidarity that is not limited by nationality, for promoting a change that will protect everyone.
Me and my fellow activists of the Refusers Network will not take part in this repression, and we are burning our draft orders.
