اقراوا الرسالة بالعربية Read the Letter in English שמי מוריאל רוטמן. אני בן 23. חייתי את רב חיי בארה”ב, אך נולדתי בירושלים, ואני […]
Category: IDF & Refusal to Serve
رسالة رفض: عن الاله / الحب، عن مبدأ اللاعنف، وعن الاحتلال العسكري الإسرائيلي للأراضي الفلسطينية
לקרוא את המכתב בעברית Read the Letter in English اسمي موريال زكريا روثمان وعمري 23 سنة. قضيت أغلب حياتي في الولايات المتحدة، ولكني ولدت في القدس (وانا يهودي) […]
“Your Request Has Been Denied.”
“Can I speak to Moriel Rothman?” “Speaking.” “I am calling from the draft office in Jerusalem in connection to your request for a Conscience Committee.” “Okay…” “Your request has been denied. You will be enlisting […]
הישאר חזק, הישאר אנושי: מכתב מחברה פלסטינית בקשר לסירוב שלי
תרגום: שרון גולדברג זהו קטע מתוך מכתב שקיבלתי מחברה פלסטינית של חברה. התרגשתי ממנו מאד, והנחישות שלי לסרב התחזקה והתגברה. זה מרגש ומתאים במיוחד כיוון שהמלחמה הנוראית בעזה ב2008-9 היתה ההתחלה של תהליך ארוך שהוביל […]
Stay Strong, Stay Human: A Letter from a Palestinian Friend Regarding My Refusal
This is an excerpt from a letter I received from a Palestinian friend of a friend. I was deeply moved by it and my resolve to refuse strengthened and increased. It is also particularly moving […]
“My Hand in the Plan for Peace,” by Mori Rothman, Age 12.
Wow: If the IDF needs more proof that values of nonviolence and peace have guided me since I was a tiny dweeb, they should read this essay that my parents just found in an box […]
Conscientious Objection: Round Deux
Phone rings (the iPhone blues-riff, for those curious, ie., dun nah nuh nuh nuhh (bum bum, bum bum).
Unknown number, which usually either means a hate-call (a la last week’s “I hope the Nazis do to you what they did to my family”) or the IDF.
“Moriel Rothman?”
“Yes?”
“Come into the Draft Offices on Thursday, you have a meeting with the [Insert Military Acronym that Young Rothman Could Not Understand*].”
“Uh, OK? Is this like a committee or not like a committee?”
“I don’t know. Sure. I guess you can say it’s like a committee.”
I arrive. Before arriving, I do a lot of meditating and some praying and generally try to get myself in a place in which I am calm and filled with love even for those who don’t love me.
I go upstairs. I am calm. I am called into the room. Across from me sits the Samla”g* (a high-up in the draft office). The conversation goes something like this:
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“We see that you were born in Israel, and then lived here when you were seventeen. And that you made ‘Aliyah’ last September. Is that right?”
“Well… immigrated, yeah.” (Probably best not to argue semantics here, I decide. One struggle at a time).
“And why don’t you want to serve in the army?”
“Because I am opposed to violence.”
”So are we. The IDF is not an organization that supports violence. We are defending our country’s borders.”
Breathe, Rothman. Breathe.
Another reason why I will never join the army.
Because you cannot make peace with an M16. Although maybe you can make prosperity.
How to [Unsuccessfully] Request a Conscience Committee to Get Out of Serving in the IDF
“What are you here for?” The soldier at the gate asks me. “I’m here to…” I breathe: Honesty. No games. Honesty. “I’m here to request a Conscience Committee [Hebrew: va’adat matzpoon].” “A what?” “A Conscience […]
Draft Orders to Join the IDF; Refusal
Dear friends, On October 21st, 2012, I am expected to become a soldier in the IDF. I was born in Israel, am Jewish, am male and am under 26 years old and thus received a […]