Taking a Stand: Talking to the Shministim

On Friday 13th March I travelled down to London to see one of the most inspiring peace activists that I have come across while working for Fellowship of Reconciliation. Tamar Katz is a 19 year old Israeli who is part of the Shministim, a group of Israeli high school students who are refusing to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) due to their occupation of Palestine. Conscientious objectors are few in Israel, especially those who publicly oppose the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, and this group is especially important as they have spend time promoting their views and gaining worldwide support for their actions.

Organised by London School of Economics’ Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the event and was one of many talks Tamar had given during a two week visit to the United Kingdom. Her story started in 2006 when she was 16 when the Israeli army first got in touch with her about the required military service Israelis do upon leaving high school. This was also the time of the Lebanon-Israel war where big demonstrations were held in Israel against the war, which Tamar took part in. After participating in these demonstrations Tamar decided she should know more about the IDF before joining up.

Tamar took part in a community service year to give her more time to make a decision, and was placed to work in a community. Its leader helped Tamar think through some of the challenges she was facing and put her in touch with New Profile, a movement for the civil-isation of Israeli society, which helped her write to the military to say she was a pacifist.

Tamar decided to find out more about what was happening in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and decided to part in a tour of Hebron organised by Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers committed to speaking out about their experiences and to exposing human rights abuses by the Israeli military. Tamar describes this as a turning point for her as the inequality gap she saw between her home in Tel Aviv and Hebron contrasted starkly, despite their close geographical proximity. She was shocked by the hostility and violence Israeli soldiers demonstrated, not just towards her for ‘betraying’ her country, but towards the Palestinians who were just trying to live their lives.

Tamar felt she couldn’t keep quiet about what she had experienced. She felt that it wasn’t enough to say she was a pacifist, but also wanted to also reveal what is going on in Palestine. So when she was called for her pacifist exam by the IDF she wrote about why she objected. In the exam you are not meant to make any criticism of the politics of Israel, but Tamar decided this was an important stand to make. She also during this time joined with some friends and organisations and called for a meeting to unite in their conscientious objection, and this founded the Shministim.

On her recruitment day (when she was asked to report to the IDF offices for military service) 50-60 people demonstrated outside of the camp on her and her friends behalf. Each time she has refused to serve Tamar has been imprisoned, and she has now served three sentences amounting to 51 days. She has recently secured an exemption based upon mental health problems so that she is no longer eligible for military service or imprisonment for conscientiously objecting. Tamar believed that otherwise she would have spent the next 2/3 years going in and out of prison and also recognises her actions will probably affect her future career and employment options.

Her work now focuses on trying to share information with teenagers who will be joining the IDF in the next few years and talking to Palestinians. She is concerned with trying to close the gap in between the Israeli and Palestinian societies and trying to communicate with as many people as possible – from all sides.

Tamar’s story is inspiring, as are the other stories of the Shministim. Tamar admitted how hard it was when her family didn’t support her actions or political views when she started, but how she gained strength from the support the Shministim were able to give each other. Tamar says her family have also realised that this is not just a phase and that they must support her. There are many like Tamar out there: young Israelis who want to conscientiously object, or IDF soldiers who refuse to serve outside of Israel’s 1967 boarders. However, when I met Tamar, I found it hard to see why the young Israeli who spoke in halting English poses such a threat to Israel that they imprisoned her and her friends for their beliefs.