Up to 50% of Israel’s reservists refuse to “volunteer” again
JVL Introduction
While attacks and complete siege on Gaza continue, opposition in Israel is growing. Even on Holocaust Remembrance Day Holocaust survivors and others stood up to oppose what is happening in Gaza . One of them, Veronika Cohen “acknowledged that she was in the minority in Israel…“People here see Palestinians as the other and that’s why they have created a barrier,” she said. “They have managed not to feel their pain and I find that incomprehensible. To me, when I read the stories of their suffering in Gaza, it blends completely into how I feel about the Holocaust.”
Here the focus is on the increasing reluctance and growing level of reservists who are refusing to return to Gaza and , as +972 magazine summarised their 11th April article “Over 100,000 Israelis have reportedly stopped showing up for reserve duty. While their reasons differ, the scale demonstrates the war’s waning legitimacy.” Other estimates are that 40 -50% of reservists are failing to turn up to go back to Gaza and 75% have been badly affected by the war. They are burnt out.
The reservists’ objections are mainly focused on Israel’s future and there is less about how burnt out and exhausted the people of Gaza must be. Is this “a crisis of dissent” for Israel or a glimmer of hope for the majority of the world who simply believe that Palestinians are full human beings.
LL
This article was originally published by The New Arab on Thu 24 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
Israel's army is facing a crisis of dissent over the Gaza war
In-depth: Dissent is growing in Israel’s military as growing numbers of reservists refuse to fight and veterans launch open letters condemning the war in Gaza.
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Though this increasing number of refuseniks is heartening news, the word ‘colonisation’ is never heard in their various reasonings. The Israelis are brainwashed to view people of Arab origin as inferior. The cultural sense of entitlement over their Arab ‘relatives’ pervades everything. After a very close North London, apolitical, Jewish friend decided to live in Israel, they became ‘political’ and frequently spoke of the Arab Israelis in disparaging ways – brainwashed and unthinkingly preudiced!
I agree with Maughan Melzer, Israeli children are brought up to hate and despise Palestinians.
Hopefully after watching the slaughter of Palestinians, with images of burnt children, children with limbs missing and much more, plus seeing that there is no threat from the Palestinians, many of the Reservists cannot see the point in just murdering unarmed civilians just for the sake of it. Let’s hope this spreads and causes a serious problem for Netanyahu.
Dehumanizing ‘the other’ results in dehumanizing oneself.