The majority of the 25% of Israelis who don’t complete their compulsory military service are Israeli Arabs, Haredi Jews, married and religious women and those deemed “unfit” or “unqualified” for service, all of whom are legally exempt from having to serve. But the figure also includes an increasing number who simply refuse to be a part of Israeli militarism, rejecting the country’s universal draft either on the grounds of pacifism or out of principled opposition to government policy.

The dramatic rise in instances of conscientious objection during the last decade or so recently prompted the Israeli government to launch a video campaign against would-be-sarvanim (“refuseniks”). The film, entitled “A real Israeli does not evade the army”, features a group of Israelis sitting in a café in India impressing foreign girls with stories about their army service.  The one member of the group who did not serve freezes in embarrassment when faced with the question “Brother, where did you serve?”. The commercial ends with the words: “A real Israeli does not evade the Army”.

In response to the campaign, a group of independent Israeli filmmakers have put together an alternative commercial in which Israeli youths explain why they refused to serve in the military. When the one member of the group who did complete his military service is asked “Did you go to the army?” he’s unable to answer. The commercial ends with the counter-slogan “A real Israeli does not evade the truth”.

Most of the Israelis I’ve talked to about the government propaganda campaign treat it with the contempt it clearly deserves, but the reality is that army refusal remains a serious issue over here. For many young Israelis, the social implications of conscientious objection in a society in which the army has always been such a central institution can make principled refusal a difficult and traumatic experience. Abstention is seen by a disturbingly large majority of Israelis as “dangerous” and “undemocratic”(!), inevitably attracting accusations of treason and claims that the refuseniks’ actions are helping Israel’s enemies. Though those who refuse the military on ideological grounds find some support within left-wing and Arab parties – Hadash, Balad, Raam and parts of Meretz - their actions are condemned by the Israeli Labour Party and other Meretz members.

France 24 site The Observers recently carried an interesting reaction to the video from three Israeli writers – including A Living Revolution’s editor Joel Schalit – who rejected military service themselves. For a personal perspective on the increasingly common phenomenon of “selective refusal”, check out also the statement made by Anton Marks, a good friend of mine, on his refusal to serve in the Occupied West Bank in 2002.