In Israel, enlisting in the military is compulsory for young Jewish men and women, with service seen as a right of passage and a major part of the country’s identity. But as the war in Gaza drags on, a very small minority of teenagers refuse to sign up over their political beliefs and are jailed. CGTN’s Sarah Coates has their story.
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00:00It's draft day at a military recruitment center near Tel Aviv, but not all of the teenagers
00:07who've turned up will be serving.
00:12Saul Bihar Selik and Ido Olam, two young men who refuse enlistment, drum up support for
00:19their decision.
00:20The Israeli military right now is acting in a way that only propels violence and brings
00:26us farther away from safety.
00:27For us as Israelis, hostages, soldiers and Palestinians, I'm refusing to try and raise
00:34awareness, to try and raise opposition to this behavior.
00:40Ido also opposes the war and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
00:45He rejects the idea that all young Israelis should be forced to serve in the military.
00:51I think a big part of it is the militarism in our society.
00:56Since day one, they basically teach you about how you're supposed to go to the army and
01:02how you're supposed to sacrifice your life for this country.
01:06We want to break that.
01:07We want to break the status quo.
01:11These kind of objections are rare.
01:14Since October 7th last year, only a handful of young conscripts have refused service over
01:21their political beliefs.
01:25With most new recruits here today, they're very eager and excited to join the military.
01:34Whoever comes to kill you, kill him first.
01:37We're Jews, believing Jews.
01:39We do whatever God asks of us.
01:42They're confused.
01:43May God guide you to the correct path.
01:46Amen.
01:47Sophia Orr refused service in February and was jailed for 85 days.
01:53She knows what Sol and Ido are facing in military prison.
01:57My experience is obviously not nice.
02:00It's much, much better than the way that Palestinians get treated in prison.
02:04But it's still not nice, where I got yelled at and threatened for punishment if I kept
02:09talking about politics.
02:11With serving in the military so central to life in Israeli society, those who refuse
02:17say they're often shunned and even viewed as traitors.
02:23I get called a traitor, self-hating Jew, getting told that they want to kill me or rape me.
02:34Despite the fierce backlash, these refusers say they do have some support.
02:40Sol's dad, Erez, tells us he's proud that his son is willing to be jailed for his convictions
02:46rather than finding an easier way of avoiding military service.
02:51You need to go, you need to understand and invest and learn and challenge yourself to
02:58develop such an opinion.
03:00And then you also need the guts and the courage to follow that through.
03:07Sol's family has served in the Israeli military for decades and knows full well the reality
03:13of war.
03:14I spent most of my service in the Lebanon war.
03:18A couple of years later, I experienced the first uprising, the Intifada, and then the
03:25second one.
03:26So three wars in a lifetime is more than enough.
03:30I got injured.
03:32My father was injured when he was in the war in 67, 73.
03:37So we had enough of wars.
03:41As their arrest draws nearer, the reality of their situation sets in.
03:46Right now I'm really nervous and it's starting to hit me.
03:51Amid final hugs and words of support from their friends and family, the young men collect
03:57their belongings.
03:59It's unclear how long they'll be away, as many conscientious objectors have spent multiple
04:05stints in prison.
04:08Sol and Ido surrender to authorities and are taken off to jail, facing an uncertain future.
04:16Sarah Coates, CGTN, Tel Aviv.