FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. December 18, 2008 marked the launch date of a global campaign to release them from jail. SHMINISIM 2010: A new Shministim letter has been drafted for 2010, and 88 Israeli young people have signed it. The letter, addressed to Prime Minister Netanyahu, slams the Occupation and asks, “Can military rule of a civilian population be considered anything other than a dictatorship?” To learn about this new class of conscientious refusers, go here.

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Meet the Shministim

Or Ben-David Katz - 2010

Name: Or Ben-David
Age: 19
Location: Jerusalem
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I refuse because I want to make a difference. I want all those Palestinian youths who have lost hope to see that there are Israelis who care and who make a different choice. I want all those of my friends who became soldiers or who are about to become soldiers to see that things don’t have to be the way they are…”
Pre-Sentence: 28th Sept. 2009 (7 days of confinement to base)
First Sentence: 29th Oct. 2009 (20 days)
Second Sentence: 16th Nov. 2009 (20 days)
Third Sentence: 15th Dec. 2009 (34 days)

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Efie Brenner - 2010

Name: Efi Brener
Age: 18
Location: Rishon Le Zion (a suburb of Tel-Aviv)
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I object to oppression, whether it is committed by a hierarchical organisation, such as the military is, or whether it is committed by the human species against animals.”
First Sentence: 22nd Oct. 2009 (10 days)

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Tamar Katz - 2009

Name: Tamar Katz
Age: 19
Location: Tel-Aviv
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I refuse to enlist in the Israeli military on conscientious grounds. I am not willing to become part of an occupying army, that has been an invader of foreign lands for decades, which perpetuates a racist regime of robbery in these lands, tyrannizes civilians and makes life difficult for millions under a false pretext of security.”
First Sentence: 28th Sept. - 10th Oct. 2008 (12 days)
Second Sentence: 12th - 30th Oct. 2008 (18 days)
Third Sentence: 1st - 22nd Dec. 2008 (21 days)

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Yuval Ophir-Auron - 2009

Name: Yuval Ophir-Auron
Age: 19
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I am convinced that it is no one but ourselves who determines that it is our fate to live by the sword. There is another way, which is not the way of war. This is the path of dialogue, of understanding, of concession, forgiveness, of peace.
I believe that a person should take responsibility and feel reconciled to the way he chooses. This is why I shall not join an army behind whose actions I cannot stand and whose behavior I cannot justify.”
First Sentence: 24th Nov. - 5th Dec. 2008
Second Sentence: 7th - 14th December 2008

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Raz Bar-David Varon - 2009

Name: Raz Bar-David Varon
Age: 18
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I wasn’t born to serve as a soldier who occupies another, and the struggle against the occupation is mine too. It is a struggle for hope, for a reality that sometimes feels so far away. I have a responsibility for this society. My responsibility is to refuse.”
First Sentence: 3rd - 21st Nov. 2008 (18 days)
Second Sentence: 24th Nov. - 30th Nov. 2008 (6 days)
Third Sentence: 21st Dec. - 9th Jan (currently in prison)

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Omer Goldman - 2009

Name: Omer Goldman
Age: 19
Location: Tel-Aviv
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I believe in service to the society I am part of, and that is precisely why I refuse to take part in the war crimes committed by my country. Violence will not bring any kind of solution, and I shall not commit violence, come what may.”
First Sentence: 22nd Sept. - 10th Oct. 2008 (18 days)
Second Sentence: 12th - 24th Oct. 2008 (10 days)

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Mia Tamarin - 2009

Name: Mia Tamarin
Age: 19
Location: Tel-Aviv
Why I am one of the Shministim:
“I cannot become part of an organization the purpose of which is to fend off violence by violence, because it stands unequivocally contrary to everything I believe in and to my whole life. There always is another, non-violent option, and it is this option that I choose.”
First Sentence: 28th Sept. - 10th Oct. 2008 (12 days)
Second Sentence: 12th - 24th Oct. 2008 (12 days)
Third Sentence: 5th - 23rd Nov 2008 (18 days)

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More Shministim →

News & Updates

Shministim Day of Action: January 9!

January 5th, 2010 — 04:04 pm

Want to support the Shministim? Organize a demo this January 9th!
If you would like to arrange such a demo, or if you know someone who will, please email shministim10 at gmail.com
More info here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=228763641008&ref=mf
(If you are in the San Francisco/Bay Area, please join Dialogues Against Militarism and friends this Saturday,  January 9th, at the Ferry [...]

Mia Tamarin Discharged From Military

December 17th, 2009 — 03:24 pm

 
After four prison terms, Israeli conscientious objector Mia Tamarin was finally discharged from the Israeli military.

Third prison term for Or Ben-David

December 15th, 2009 — 11:23 pm

Or Ben-David returns to prison after being sentenced for 34 days. This is her 3rd prison term in a row. After completing a second prison term, Or Ben-David, of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, was sentenced earlier today, Dec. 15th, to 34 days in prison. She will serve her sentence in the [...]

Second prison term for Or Ben-David

November 16th, 2009 — 11:20 pm

After completing her first prison term, Or Ben-David, of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, was sentenced earlier today (16 Nov.) to 20 more days in the military prison for women (no. 400) in Tzrifin. This is her second term in prison and the third time she has been tried and sentenced for [...]

First prison term for Or Ben-David

October 29th, 2009 — 11:15 pm

Or Ben-David, 19, from Jerusalem, a signatory of the 2009-2010 high school seniors letter of refusal, was sentenced earlier today (29 Oct.) to 20 days in military prison. This sentence follows a sentence of seven days of confinement to base given her a week ago (on the evening of 22 Oct). She is now held [...]

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