Israeli teen jailed for refusal to enlist in IDF during Israel-Hamas war

Conscientious objectors – or refuseniks – often serve multiple sentences for refusing to enlist as they are called back to recruitment centres repeatedly following their prison sentences. Political rationale is not considered a valid objection to military service.

In a statement shared on Tuesday, Mitnick said: “There is no military solution to a political problem. I refuse to enlist in an army that believes that the real problem can be ignored, under a government that only continues the bereavement and pain.”

Mitnick said that he decided to refuse to enlist before the war began, but “since it started, I am only more and more sure of my decision.”

In September, Mitnick was part of a movement of teenagers refusing to serve in the military in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul push and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Mitnick, then 17, helped organise the Youth Against Dictatorship initiative as part of the 2023 judicial reform protests, joining hundreds of Israeli teens in a collective refusal to join the IDF.

In November, Mitnick spoke to Turkish broadcaster TRT World, explaining: "The army that we have in this country is the operational wing of Jewish supremacy in the area and it's bent on the oppression of the Palestinian people, and I refuse to take part in that oppression and instead fight against it in my activism."

Mitnick is the first Israeli conscientious objector of the Gaza war. In his recent statement on social media, the young activist said: “Diplomacy, political effort, and policy change are the only way to prevent further death and destruction on both sides.”