- "...the five [refuseniks] said that their sentence
will not deter the refusenik movement and expressed their wonder at how
soldiers who carry out "war crimes" are given lenient sentences
while they are sent to prison for matters on conscience."
-
-
- Five teenaged conscientious objectors who refused to
join the Israel Defense Forces were sentenced to one year imprisonment
each on Sunday.
-
- The time they have already served will not be deducted
from their sentences.
-
- The five, Haggai Matar, Amir Kaminer, Shomri Zameret,
Adam Maor and Noam Bahat, were convicted last month by the Jaffa Military
Court for refusing an order. Draft-dodging bears a maximum sentence of
three years in jail.
-
- The three judges differed in their opinions, with one
wishing to sentence them to 22 months in prison and another just six months.
-
- The judges wrote in their ruling that the sentence was
to serve as a warning to others, especially in light of the recent spate
of elite reservists refusing to serve in the territories.
-
- After leaving the court Sunday, the five said that their
sentence will not deter the refusenik movement and expressed their wonder
at how soldiers who carry out "war crimes" are given lenient
sentences while they are sent to prison for matters on conscience.
-
- Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh called the sentence a "draconian
punishment," adding that the refuseniks are a "conscientious
beacon for a violent society."
-
- The five had claimed conscientious objector status on
the grounds that they oppose serving in "an army of occupation."
But the court ruled that their freedom to follow their conscience had to
be balanced against equally important values, such as national security,
which it said could be gravely impaired if the conscripts were exempted
from service.
-
- Furthermore, the court said, the five high school graduates
did not refuse to serve as individuals, but rather as a group, with the
explicit goal of bringing about a change in Israeli policy in the territories.
As such, the court ruled, their action strayed from the norms of classic
conscientious objection into the realm of civil disobedience.
-
- In support of this finding, the court cited a letter
the conscripts had signed in high school, in which they declared they would
not serve in the IDF "as long as it acts as an army of occupation."
-
- The five rejected the court's criticism, and noted that
had they wanted only to dodge the military draft they would have operated
differently.
-
- According to the five, the publicity of their campaign
to avoid military service demonstrated the pain associated with their decision,
and ultimately led to their conviction.
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