Israel

Back to table of contents By Tali Lerner, New Profile Citizenship in Israel is judged in terms of the relations between a certain group and the military. Ultra-orthodox Jewish or Arab citizens are perceived as second-rate citizens. This is legitimised because they are exempted from compulsory military service.

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Israel is one of two countries currently with conscription of women. Through the stories and declarations we are presenting here, we see a development from objection for religious reasons to reasons of conscience in 1954, and later for more political reasons in 1970 and up till to-day. The Six-Day war in 1967 seems to be a turning point. The last declaration we are presenting is from April 2009, after the bombing of Gaza.

Nine people, tried for disturbing public order in the action of boycotting Israel in the Price Circus, have been cleared.

The trial, in which nine activists were tried for an action carried out in June this year, lasted little over half an hour.

Despite the heavy police presence (local, national and secret forces) and security guards, on the 18th of October at 10.30 am around fifty people gathered to show support for those on trial, at the steps of the Plaza de Castilla Courts in Madrid, Spain.

During its 99th session, the Human Rights Committee also examined the periodic report of Israel. Again, also the issue of conscientious objection came up. The Israeli delegation said that in the matter of conscientious objections, it did not have the statistics available at hand on the number of cases approved. The burden of proof was on the objector, but it was difficult to say what the burden of proof was because it was hard to determine what was in a person’s heart and mind and whether they were lying.

Human Rights Committee
Ninety-ninth session
Geneva, 12–30 July 2010

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant
Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee
Israel

CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3

Distr.: General
29 July 2010
Original: English/Spanish

(...)

Dexia Israel, a subsidiary of the Belgian-French Dexia Group, provides long-term loans and other financial services to Israeli local authorities in the occupied territory. After Who Profits exposed proof of that fact, and following months of protest and a public campaign led by the Belgian Intal group, Dexia announced, in June 2009 that financing Israeli settlements is contrary to the bank’s code of ethics, and that the bank would stop providing new loans to West Bank settlements.

Photo and video material from the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla expose the use of European and US produced war material. The attack on the relief boats was executed by Israeli navy special forces Unit 13 (Shayetet 13). Several large and small navy ships, as well as helicopters, were used, armed with US and European weapons.

War Resisters' International - an international pacifist network with more than 80 affiliates in more than 40 countries - condemns the murderous Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza and calls for an immediate lifting of the blockade on Gaza.

The Israeli state has been responsible for many outrages in its history, especially against the population of Gaza. To put it at its mildest, as reported last week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, after a thousand days of the Israeli blockade, 61 per cent of the households of Gaza are “food insecure”.

The Transnational Awareness Group (TAG) collects and spreads information about the way companies contribute to armed conflicts. Initiated in Belgium by Vredesactie (Peace Action), this form of action - to track, expose and label war businesses - is now spreading internationally.

On 7th February 2010, 8 peace activists entered the Brussels Holiday Fair and impersonated flight attendants of the Israeli airline company El Al. They handed out fake free plane tickets to Israel, which referred to the fact that El Al contributes to the transport of arms to the country. Their theatrical intervention didn't go down well with the Israeli security agents who were observing the Fair.

Elbit Systems is one of the world's largest defence electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide. It supplies the military, navy and air force in the occupation of Palestine, and has profited greatly from Israel's numerous attacks and assaults on the Palestinian and Lebanese people.

Andrew Rigby's 1991 book, Living the Intifada (Zed, 1991) is now online at http://civilresistance.info/rigby1991. At the time he wrote this, Andrew was convener of the WRI Middle East Working Group. This is a full-length study of the first intifada, including useful discussion on the issues of violence and nonviolence.