ISRAELI REBELS BACK UP WORDS
TWO MEN REFUSED TO BE SOLDIERS
Judith Davidoff, The Capital Times, November 9, 2004
Like other young Israeli men and women, Noam Bahat and Shimri Zameret were called up to serve in their country’s army once they finished high school.
But, unlike most of their peers, Barat and Zameret refused to enlist.
Part of a growing movement of “refuseniks,” Barat and Zameret served time in military and civilian prisons after being court-martialed for refusing to serve in the Israeli army. Both object to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Israel Defense Forces.
Released in September after about two years in prison, Barat and Zameret are traveling around the United States to speak about their experiences and to raise consciousness about the role the United States plays in supporting Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
On Wednesday night, Bahat and Zameret will speak at the First Unitarian Society Meeting House here at a program sponsored by the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and the Madison Area Peace Coalition.
Bahat, 21, said part of his goal in speaking to Americans is to encourage protest of the U.S. policy of funding the Israeli army, which is now primarily engaged in fighting the second Intifada — Palestinian uprising — in the occupied territories.
“I call on the American people to educate themselves about the conflict and to make their own opinion about it,” Bahat said. “After they do, then I expect them to take a stand and protest against the occupation. As American citizens, they can put pressure on the American administration to stop supporting the Israeli occupation.”
Zameret, 20, said refusing to join the army is a strong political act that gets people’s attention.
“The fact that you’re willing to pay a personal price for what you believe in gives you the opportunity to tell people what you think and they’ll listen to you,” he said.
“Refusing and spending two years in jail is similar to putting a mirror to the face of Israeli society,” he added. “If you read the Bible you can find so many Jewish values that contradict with what we’re doing in the occupied territories. Jewish people were always fighting against oppressing nations and now we have become an oppressing nation and that’s a horrible thing.”
Zameret said people who want what’s best for Israel, including those Jews who voted to re-elect President George W. Bush because of the president’s purported support for Israel, should take a hard look at the cost of the occupation.
“People who care for Israel should fight as hard as they can against the occupation because it’s really destroying our society,” he said. “Because of soldiers going to battle and coming back with scratches on their souls. Because our economy is destroyed because of the occupation.”
Zameret and Bahat say they have been outspoken not only about Israeli abuses, but Palestinian violence as well.
“We are against any kind of violence,” Zameret said. “We think that the Palestinians should take non-violent resistance to the occupation.”
Zameret said he, Bahat and 98 other refuseniks recently published an open letter in many Arab newspapers urging the cessation of terrorist bombings against Israeli citizens.
“The bombing is immoral and the killing of civilians by terrorists is terrible,” Zameret said. “They should resist in a non-violent way.”
The two differ on the potential fallout from a change in Palestinian leadership if Yasser Arafat, who is reportedly gravely ill, dies soon.
Zameret said a change in leadership might yield positive results if Arafat’s successors are more likely to take a stand on peace. “It might give the new leaders a chance to bloom,” he said.
But Bahat, who noted he is not a fan of Arafat, said much would depend on whether the Israeli government would allow the Palestinians to rebuild the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
“If they don’t, we might see chaos in the future, more than now,” he said.
SPEECH
Wednesday: Noam Bahat and Shimri Zameret will speak at 7 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive, about refusing to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Will Williams, a Vietnam veteran and member of Vets for Peace, also will be featured.
E-mail: jdavidoff@madison.com
CAPTION(S):
PAUL J. KALDJIAN
Noam Bahat (left) and Shimri Zameret served two years in Israeli prison for refusing to serve in the armed forces. The two are shown here in Eau Claire, where they recently spoke to several audiences.
Cite this article
“ISRAELI REBELS BACK UP WORDS 2 MEN REFUSED TO BE SOLDIERS.(METRO).” The Capital Times. Capital Newspapers. 2004. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-124425381.html
COPYRIGHT 2004 Capital Newspapers
