Refuseniks Freed
The five young refuseniks – Haggai Matar, Matan Kaminer, Noam Bahat, Shimri Tzameret, and Adam Maor – are finally being released today after 2 years in military prison. Unfortunately this might not be the end of the story:
The five received orders to report Sunday morning to the central Israel Defense Force induction center. It is not known whether the order signals the beginning of the process of their release from IDF service or whether the army intends to continue its attempts to draft them.
The committee that commuted their sentence also discussed bringing them before the IDF “unsuitability committee” to have them released from service, a position taken by two of the three military judges who sentenced them.
Although the objectors were described in a negative light by the military prosecutor during their trial, the committee particularly noted their potential to contribute to society, which they had done before they were taken into custody for refusing to be inducted, and continued to do during their incarceration, serving as tutors and helping other prisoners in various ways.
I will use this chance to wish you all Shana Tova!
i’m actually going to a benefit concert for them in tel aviv next week with sagol…
sounds good!
i know haggai matar, matan kaminer and shimri tzameret personally. all very nice guys. you should interview them for jewsweek or something.
Why should there be a benefit concert for these assholes? Why not a benefit concert for the israeli soldiers who are dying protecting there cowardly asses.
Lou, you sound like you should be in the US supporting the Bush/Cheney regime. The Refuseniks have done a great justice, and there are many, many people in the US who support them.
A great justice?? They’ve done nothing, how is that a great justice? You Leftists are all the same, too lazy to work, so you blame it on Bush for not bringing you a job offer to your door. Hmm.. maybe it’s because the skills you have amount to jack shit. Then when you’re too lazy to fight assholes who want to kill you, you blame it on Bush (or Sharon in this case) for not being sensitive to the terrorists needs. There might be many who support those jerks. But they are all in the same club. The club of the terrorist loving, lazy, and self-loathing. Go fuck yourself Miriam.
miriam, ignore the troll.
Miriam.
what justice have they done?
Dodging the draft while the country is under attack?
Too bad those ‘many, many, people’ in the States aren’t making aliya, or even thinking about it. Or maybe that’s a good thing while they continue to be assimilated into oblivion?
These 5 draft-dodgers are a disgrace (and/or product of) the Israeli school system that fel asleep and stopped teaching patriotism and judaism.
I’d agree with them ‘doing justice’ if it aroused public discussion on the future of the Jewish state, the continued decrease of ‘secular’ support of the state, continued drop in ‘secular’ draftees, but it hasn’t for now. Maybe they’ll get lucky with their fifteen minutes of fame, bag some groupies, and start a real revolution of ‘shministim’ buring their ‘tzav rishon’ – then – only religious boys and girls would be inducted, Israeli society would be further fragmented into a religious patriots and non-religious hedonists.
Shana tova to all.