We Refuse : Saying No to the Army in Israel

Author: Barzilai, Martin

Israel

Published on 29 July 2025 by The Merlin Press Ltd (Green Print) in the United Kingdom.

Atsixteen, I was with my best friend, a Palestinian when I received my firstletter from the army. We had grown up like sisters. She glanced at theenvelope. We looked at each other. Her eyes seemed to say: ‘Do you know whatyou are going to do?’ Then she said: ‘Do you know how difficult life willbecome, if you don’t go into the army?’ And, at that moment I realised that Icouldn’t do military service. I did not want to be a good soldier in their apartheidsystem.

 Thisbook presents the words of men and women in Israel who refuse to do militaryservice in the Israeli Defence Forces, so as not to participate in dirty warsin the West Bank and in Gaza.