Beyond Borders: Defiance and Solidarity – The Israeli Woman Resisting Military Service

Watan-The British newspaper “The Times” published a report about Sofia Orr (18 years old), who is likely to be the first Israeli woman to enter prison for refusing military service in sympathy with Gaza.

In her apartment located on the eighth floor of a residential tower in northern Israel, Sofia Orr packs her army backpack with crossword puzzle books, black underwear, and a small CD player. But unlike thousands of Israeli teenagers who prepared to join the army since October 7th, the bag she packs in the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur is meant for prison, according to “The Times.”

Orr is likely to become on Sunday the first woman since the beginning of the Gaza war to be imprisoned for refusing military service due to her political beliefs.After Orr, 18, publicly declared her intentions, she received death and rape threats. Her friends described her as “self-hating Jew” and a traitor on social media, as well as naive and ungrateful. Her mother, Sigal, spent the past three years trying in vain to convince her to change her mind, but it did not deter Orr.

“I never thought I would join the army, even when I was very young… There’s a feeling that you want to serve your country and protect your country, but I thought there are other ways to help people around me. I think it’s wrong to take children and turn them into soldiers and not leave any choice for them,” she said.

Military service has long been a cornerstone in Israeli society, as most of Orr’s friends believe. Many of their contemporaries felt an additional urge to fight after October 7th.

More than half of Israelis believe that continuing the war on Gaza is the best way to regain prisoners, according to a survey conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute and published in January.

Within the first two weeks after October 7th, 2,000 extremist Israelis, who were exempted from military service for religious reasons, volunteered to enlist.

In addition to her mandatory two-year service, she signed up for an additional four years in the army, but she is torn between her feelings about the conflict and her professional life. She said that Israelis serving in the army often receive higher salaries than those who do not serve.

“I know people who just finished their military service and get a raise because they were in the army,” she said.

Atrocities in Gaza

However, she also has reservations about the war on Gaza, where more than 29,000 Palestinians were killed. The United Nations said the majority were women and children.

“I am sorry for everyone… Terrible things happened to people in my country, but terrible things also happened in Gaza,” she added. “It was easier for me to go to the army to do this task… I don’t know if I want to believe that or if it’s true, but I think the work I’m doing doesn’t cause any harm – it protects our soldiers.”

Mental and Physical Tests

Israelis first undergo mental and physical tests to assess the youth’s fitness for military service at the age of 16. The call-up comes at age 18. Both men and women are required to complete military service—two years and eight months for men, and two years for women—although soldiers have been asked to serve longer due to the war. Refusal based on political objection is illegal.

The vast majority of 18-year-olds who avoid enlistment do so by obtaining exemptions or deferrals, usually for medical or religious reasons, especially within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Recruits are summoned to the Tel Hashomer induction base in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv. If someone refuses, they are brought to a disciplinary session and often sent to prison.

Once released, they are asked to attend again; if they refuse again, they are sentenced again. This cycle continues until the Military Induction Unit, Metav, ultimately declares the citizen unfit for service, at which point an exemption is granted.

The average punishment for refusers during wartime ranges from 90 to 120 days. In the two months following the start of the Gaza war, 60% of eligible men and 40% of eligible women who received the call-up were enlisted, according to the Israeli news website Al-Monitor. In comparison, out of 144,000 18-year-old boys eligible for service in 2020, 47% joined.

The Israeli Defense Forces do not routinely publish comprehensive demographic data on enlistments or exemptions.

Orr made a decision to refuse, rather than request exemption, before the war, and she does not believe that joining the army will resolve the conflict. She said, “My decision became political when I was fourteen years old when I started asking myself if I went and served for about two years in the army, what and who would I actually serve? I would go and serve in an endless cycle of bloodshed, and that’s not something I wanted to do.”

She continued, “My immediate family is very supportive, and I’m very fortunate because not everyone has that. That’s why not everyone who wants to refuse can, because they might lose their family and friends.”

She added, “From some of my friends and family, I’m often described as naive or ungrateful. Naive because we can achieve peace with Palestinians, and ungrateful because all my friends go to the army and protect me, and here I am not protecting my people and my country.”

Unknown Punishment

It is unclear what Orr’s punishment will be. Tal Meitnik, who became in December the first Israeli teenager to be imprisoned for refusing military service since October 7th, was sentenced to 30 days in prison. Meitnik will attend the induction center for the third time on Sunday after spending 60 days in prison for two penalties.