When I worked at Esquire we had a feature called Women We Love. Well, these are Israeli high school girls who are refusing to serve the occupation: Omer Goldman, Tamar Katz, Mia Tamarin. Notice in the picture above the photo of soldiers attacking a man who is protesting the confiscatory wall. They have all been sentenced to jail time.
Omer, pictured again, on the left, is in jail right now. The headline above is from her letter refusing to serve. Here's more: "I shall not be
part of an army that needlessly implements a violent policy and violates the
most basic human rights on a daily basis… Like most of my peers, I too
have not dared to question the ethics of the Israeli military. But when I
visited the Occupied Territories I realized I see a completely different
reality, a violent, oppressive, extreme reality that must be ended...I
believe in service to the society I am part of, and that is precisely why I
refuse to take part in the war crimes committed by my country. Violence will
not bring any kind of solution, and I shall not commit violence, come what
may."
Tamar and Mia don't have to start their sentences yet, apparently the government doesn't want all three girls in jail at the same time. Here's the link on how to write to Omer wishing her your support and protest the sentences to embassies and newspapers. Here's the link to the high school refusenik group Shministim, which says: "The Six Day War broke out on June 5th, 1967 and Israel has not left the
West Bank since. Gaza strip was conquered too, and military forces
still rule the place. We are saying END THE OCCUPATION IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES…. We want to end occupation, we want to change the face of the militaristic Israeli society."
When will Americans be allowed to see this reality? Make Barack Obama sign! Stuff pillows with the hair clippings of Bernard-Henri Levy! The release has a quote from Herman Goering at the bottom, big Nazi, or it did when I got the email, that includes the following, when he was in prison, in '46: "…the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." Yes and how many of the intellectuals who are denouncing Islamofascism are sending their kids off to fight Arabs?
