Another Take: Why do so few Israelis refuse the draft?

Every Saturday and Sunday, we revisit stories we’ve done that are in the news again. 

This episode was originally published on June 14, 2021

The number of Israelis who openly refuse military service due to the occupation is low; earlier this year, four teenagers refusing together was notable. The low numbers persist despite multiple international human rights groups recognizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. Now, army violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is at a high not seen in years, Israel’s most far-right government yet is on the verge of taking power, and draft refuser organizations say there’s been increased interest in what’s seen by most Israelis as a radical step. We hear from two men about why they did it, and why their decision is so rare.

In this episode: 

• Evyatar Rubin, conscientious objector
• Haggai Matar (@Ha_Matar), Executive Director of +972 Magazine and former conscientious objector

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke with Chloe K. Li, and Halla Mohieddeen in for Malika Bilal. It was fact-checked by Ruby Zaman. Our production team includes Ashish Malhotra, Khaled Soltan, Zaina Badr, David Enders, Amy Walters, Sonia Bhagat, Fahrinisa Campana, Sari el-Khalili, and Malika Bilal. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. This episode was mixed by Tim St Clair. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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