When he was younger, Itamar Greenberg aspired to join the IDF. The 19-year-old grew up within an insular ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, and at times felt ostracised from his less religious peers. “I thought that the only way to become a real part of regular Israeli society was by joining the army,” he says. “I was excited.” But everything changed between Greenberg receiving his preliminary draft notice at 16 and his official draft letter at 18. “By the time I was 18, I understood all about the crimes against humanity that Israel is committing.”
These crimes include displacing Palestinians from their homes, restricting Palestinians’ freedom of movement, and systematically discriminating against Palestinians. Since October 7 2023, they also include killing over 61,000 Palestinians (of which more than 18,000 are children), wounding over 152,000, and engineering a deathly famine in Gaza. “I felt that I just couldn’t be part of these crimes,” Greenberg continues. “It wasn’t just that I didn’t want to be a part of the army, or had no reason to be a part of the army – it was that I wanted to be part of the struggle against it. I wanted to refuse on political grounds.” On August 7 2024, the date stipulated on his draft letter, Greenberg reported to an IDF induction centre. “I told them, ‘I’m not joining’,” he tells me. “Then they took me to prison.”
In Israel, military service is compulsory. Men must serve at least 32 months in the army, women 24 months. There are some exemptions: Israeli Arabs, religious women, married individuals, and those deemed medically or mentally unfit. It’s notoriously easy to receive a mental health exemption; in 2020, the IDF received 2,000 requests for draft exemptions on mental health grounds, rising to 9,000 in 2023. But now, a small but significant number of young Israelis like Greenberg are refusing to be drafted for explicitly political reasons – and facing incarceration as a result. Most are affiliated with Mesarvot, an organisation which supports conscientious objectors in Israel and offers legal support to youth who refuse to join the army.
In July, a group of young refuseniks – the term used in Israel to describe conscientious objectors – burnt their draft letters during a rally in Tel Aviv in a spectacular act of resistance. Yona Roseman, 19, was one of them. She knew she didn’t want to serve in the IDF even when she was served her preliminary draft notice three years ago. “But I didn’t have any idea if that was possible, or if there was anything that could be done about it,” she says. It was only when she started getting involved in anti-occupation activism and met other young activists that she learnt refusal was an option. In 2023, with Mesarvot, she helped coordinate the landmark ‘Youth Against Dictatorship’ open letter, where over 200 young signatories declared their refusal to serve in IDF, their opposition to serving Israeli settlements, and their desire for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Earlier this month, Roseman posted a statement on social media outlining her reasons for refusal. “There are no words to describe the scale of atrocities in Gaza,” she wrote. “The IDF, the army of the state I was born to, through all its soldiers, from private to general, is the main perpetrator of these atrocities. Every soldier, from the pilot, to the infantryman, to the technician, to the trainer, to the cop, to the propagandist, to the bureaucrat, is responsible for this crime.” On August 17, Roseman will report to an IDF induction centre and refuse. Most likely, she will be imprisoned for it. “It’s scary, going to jail, but I think I’ll be OK,” she says.
In total, Greenberg spent 197 days in prison and was finally released in March this year. Initially, he was kept in solitary confinement. “There was a risk to my life,” he explains. Due to the high-profile nature of Greenberg’s case, he was instantly recognisable as a prominent refusenik. “The other prisoners thought I was a traitor and a terrorist supporter.” Greenberg could often hear them talking about him and “what they were going to do to [him].” Roseman has also faced threats from Zionists. “When we burnt our draft letters it received a lot of attention. One of the largest news channels in the country said we were ‘aiding the enemy’,” she recalls. “I received a lot of anonymous phone calls from people who I think were trying to threaten me.”
Last Thursday, two 18-year-old Israelis, Ayana Gerstmann and Yuval Peleg declared their refusal to enlist in the army, protesting the annihilation of Gaza. They were both sentenced to military prison.
By @OrenZiv_@mekomitpic.twitter.com/Gbfhxton03
— +972 Magazine (@972mag) August 7, 2025
Why do so many in Israel still doggedly defend the IDF, despite the reams and reams of evidence that war crimes are being committed in Gaza? “There is very, very strong Zionist propaganda in Israel. You can see it all over social media and TV,” Greenberg explains. Roseman agrees. “For decades, the state has been feeding everyone propaganda that dehumanises Palestinians, that [falsely] puts our security in conflict with their existence,” she says. “That’s why they support the war and the genocide and everything Israel is doing.” She adds that many view the army as beyond reproach: “Even people who criticise the government and think the government is corrupt think the army should be free from criticism.”
As a result, refuseniks often face intense social exclusion. In Greenberg’s case, her family “haven’t been very supportive”, and she has had classmates cut contact with her as a result of her decision. Greenberg’s family were similarly disapproving. “My father is an officer in the army, so it was very complicated for him to understand,” he says. Some of Greenberg’s college friends have cut ties with him too. Cheeringly, though, these young refuseniks are finding community and solace in one another. “Most of my social circle these days is people who do activism with me anyway,” Roseman says.
In any case, Roseman stresses that the fallout from her decision to refuse feels inconsequential anyway when compared to the horror that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians. “There’s a lot of focus on how difficult this decision is, and what the consequences are. But really, it’s quite a trivial decision when you’re faced with the decision to enlist in an army that’s committing genocide,” she surmises. “That’s something you can never do. That’s the bottom line. That’s what’s important: people continuing to resist the genocide in any way they can.”
