Moriel Rothman, a 23 year-old Jew who was born in Israel and raised in the US, returned to Israel last year and declared his refusal to serve in the army on the basis of conscience, opposition to structural violence and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In his statement, Rothman wrote: "It cannot be said lightly, the time has long passed for gentle language and “hear-able” rhetoric: The Occupation is cruelty and injustice manifest. The Occupation is anti-God, anti-Love and staggeringly, constantly violent. The Occupation is based on a system of racial/ethnic separation that does, in fact, resemble South African Apartheid and segregation in the Southern United States until the 1960s. And this “temporary” Occupation is not “on its way out,” but is rather growing in strength every single day. There is almost zero political will within Israel’s government to end it, and the Israeli public has largely accepted the status quo, in which the occupation is basically a theoretical question, and one of which many have grown tired. But the occupation can only be theoretical if you are not occupied, and thus my refusal to support the occupation by serving in the IDF is also an act of solidarity with Palestinians living under occupation."

Today, Wednesday, October 24th at 8:00 AM Moriel will go report to the draft location in Giva'at HaTahmoshet, 5 Shargai street (which is itself located in occupied territory in East Jerusalem!), and declare his refusal to serve in the IDF. It is expected that he will be judged and sentenced already today.

Contact:

Moriel Rothman 0543157781

Sahar Vardi 0545683419