ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Refusing the military draft in Israel is always controversial. It's even more so now. Some young Israelis are still choosing to go to jail rather than fight in Gaza. NPR's Ruth Sherlock met one as he was released from a military detention center.
ORYAN: (Speaking Hebrew).
AMIR MUELLER: Says he's on his way.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Driving to collect his son from prison, Amir Mueller brings a beer and salmon sandwich for 18-year-old Oryan, the things Oryan missed the most while inside.
MUELLER: This is the military prison. They're all on disciplinary action.
SHERLOCK: It's the second sentence Oryan has served here for refusing the draft.
How are you?
ORYAN: I'm fine. How are you?
SHERLOCK: Outside the prison, Oryan and his dad hug each other tightly for a long time. And as they do, Israeli fighter jets growl overhead in a constant reminder of the war Israel now fights in nearby Gaza and Lebanon. And it's largely because of this war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have been killed, most of them women and children according to Gaza health officials, that Oryan says he's refusing to join up.
ORYAN: The war in Gaza really showed me the extent of the brutality the military is able to go to.
SHERLOCK: There are other, quieter ways to avoid the draft in Israel, perhaps appealing on the grounds of physical or mental health. But Oryan decided to do this as vocally as he could, showing up at the recruitment center to declare his refusal to enlist.
ORYAN: I wanted to take a stand and know that I'm doing the most that I'm able to do to shed a light on this cause.
SHERLOCK: He's helped by the organization Mesarvot, refuses in Hebrew, who give advice and legal support to those who want to conscientiously object. Oryan was sentenced to 30 days in prison in August, and when he refused to enlist again, he was imprisoned for a second time.
ORYAN: You have 20 beds in each cell, and it always, always stinks. It's an oven in the summer, and it's a freezer in the winter. It's not a fun place.
SHERLOCK: Oryan mostly didn't tell other inmates why he was there. He says other refusers have been seen as traitors and had to be moved to a different section of the prison.
ORYAN: People seriously wanted to harm them.
SHERLOCK: It is controversial to be a refuser.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
SHERLOCK: At a crossroads in Tel Aviv one evening, a small group of activists, no more than 50 people, protest against the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. I ask a passing soldier what he thinks of the protests.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: This is a massive waste of someone's evening.
SHERLOCK: He insults the protesters with language too explicit to repeat on the radio.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: This doesn't help anybody. If they want to help, they should pick up a gun and go into Gaza.
SHERLOCK: Among the protesters is 19-year-old Tal Mitnik, another army refuser.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting in non-English language).
SHERLOCK: Before we can speak, though, a group of Israelis gathered on the opposite side of the road threatened to beat up the activists, and the protest disperses. So I meet up with Mitnik at a cafe the following day.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHERLOCK: And we find a quiet place to talk.
TAL MITNIK: Here or in the grass?
SHERLOCK: Mitnik was the first person after the October 7 attack to publicly refuse military service.
MITNIK: It wasn't easy, and I got a lot, a lot of hate on social media, and also, my address was leaked, and my phone number was leaked.
SHERLOCK: In total, he spent 185 days in prison, much longer than the usual jail time for army refusers. But Mitnik, the son of liberal American parents in Israel, says even in school, he knew he didn't want to be a combatant.
MITNIK: I was good in maths, and it was marketed very much as do this computer science class, do this math class, and you'll get into a good intelligence unit. And not only that, it's marketed as get into a good intelligence unit, and then you can get a high-paying job right after you get released from the military. So that talked to me because I didn't have to do the fighting, and also I could get a good paying job. But then after I grew up a little, I mean, around high school, I realized what the intelligence units actually do, which is track Palestinians using draconian laws and invade their privacy. And I realized that I cannot take part in any single one of these positions. Every one of them is a part of the occupation.
SHERLOCK: On the day Mitnik and I meet, air raid sirens sound in Tel Aviv from rockets fired by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. With the conflict feeling closer for Israelis, I ask Mitnik if this makes him question his decision to refuse military service. It's the opposite, he says, believing that a cease-fire, not military action, is the only solution.
MITNIK: There are more people who are realizing that this war will never stop unless we make it stop.
SHERLOCK: He knows that standing against mandatory military service will not end the wars on Gaza and Lebanon, but, he says, it is at least one way to try to bring about change. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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