mandatory conscription

Kamal Zidan and his grandmother pose for a photo before he presented himself at the Israeli army induction base. (Courtesy of the Zidan family)

Druze draft refuser sent to Israeli military prison, put in solitary

Druze-Arab men, unlike other Arab citizens of Israel, are subject to the same mandatory conscription as Jewish Israelis. Kamal Zidan is refusing because of his Palestinian identity. Kamal Zidan, an Arab-Druze citizen of Israel, presented himself at the Israeli army’s Tel HaShomer induction based last Sunday and declared that he refuses to be conscripted into the…

By Rami Younis April 22, 2019

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protest businesses that operate on Saturdays , the Jewish day of rest, Jerusalem, June 29, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox anger over Western Wall deal isn’t about American Jews

The Israeli government’s decision to abandon a deal creating an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall led to an unprecedented rift with Diaspora Jewry. But American Jews, and the Reform Movement in particular, are merely collateral damage — caught in the crossfire of an internal ultra-Orthodox power struggle. By Eli Bitan With all the…

By +972 Magazine July 6, 2017

Conscientious objector Aiden Katri enters the IDF’s Tel Hashomer induction base, where she was sentenced to military prison, March 29, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Transgender conscientious objector is sent to Israeli military prison

Aiden Katri is refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli army because of the occupation and as a feminist statement. The army sent her to a men’s prison. Before heading to prison she wrote: ’It is time for an alliance of the victims of oppression.’ Transgender conscientious objector Aiden Katri was sentenced to military prison…

By Haggai Matar March 30, 2016

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