Israeli Soldier Refusenik in Portland Speaks Out to “Shatter the Hypocrisy”

By Sr. Elaine Kelley

Tamir Sorek, Sergeant First Class assigned to Army Intelligence in the Israel Defense Forces, has been touring the U.S. to speak on behalf of 390 IDF reserve soldiers and officers refusing “to serve the occupation.” Sorek represents the Courage to Refuse movement in Israel that began Jan. 25 of this year with the publication in Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper of a “Combatants’ Letter” (see April 2002 Washington Report, p. 7) signed by 53 reservists. The letter sparked debate within Israel over the occupation and revitalized the Israeli peace movement. Since its publication, the list of refusenik signatories has grown to almost 400.

The ad campaign and refusenik idea came about through Yesh Gvul and Not In My Name, Israeli groups formed to encourage and support refusers who, as a result of their principled stance, frequently are subjected to imprisonment, violence and ostracism, and labeled as traitors to the state of Israel. The January Ha’aretz ad was the first of many paid ads in Israel sponsored by Courage to Refuse, and of subsequent similar ads sponsored by Jewish support groups in the U.S. A Web site in English established by these groups at <www.couragetorefuse.org> serves as “a web portal to unite international supporters of the Israeli Refusers.”

On April 1 Sergeant Sorek spoke to a gathering of about 200 in Portland’s Havurah Shalom Synagogue. His Portland appearance was initiated by Bob Brown of Havurah’s Social Action Committee and co-sponsored by area activist groups, including Jews for Global Justice and Women in Black. Staci Cotler of the P’na Or Synagogue in Portland, who works with Women in Black and attended the event at Havurah, said there is a major dialogue going on within the various and diverse Jewish communities, both religious and secular, as a result of the escalating violence. “I think it’s great that Havurah had the courage to air this,” she said, explaining that a growing number of Jews are opposed to the occupation, but that their views do not get public expression.

A new phenomenon in Israel, the refusenik s movement is quite different from traditional conscientious objector ideology, which historically is anti-military. According to Sorek, Israeli anti-war groups have nurtured the idea of refusing to serve for years, but it only recently got off the ground when two soldiers returning from the Gaza Strip published their intention to refuse at Tel Aviv University. They invited other soldiers who felt the same way to contact them—and they did. Sorek, who has doctorates from the University of Maryland in sociology and anthropology, and who is signer number 191 on the refuseniks’ Web site at <www.seruv.org>, clarified that the refuseniks “still want to serve as military reserve soldiers in the army but only for the purpose of defending Israel.”

The occupation, which Sorek described as an “unjust, inhumane situation” which has lasted 35 years, does not serve that purpose, he explained. The Israeli government, he said, views the occupation as a permanent condition, which “we don’t agree to.”

“We are trying to shatter the hypocrisy of speaking all the time in the name of democracy,” Sorek said, giving examples of what he called “harsh, cruel, violent missions” soldiers are ordered to carry out against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories. He cited the recent case of the woman in a Gaza refugee camp who died right in front of her children. Soldiers were conducting a house-to-house search for explosives, Sorek told the audience, having been ordered to do anything necessary to get inside every house and building. At one house soldiers found the door locked, and yelled for those inside to come out. A woman at home inside with her children was too afraid to come out. The Israelis blew open the front door, critically injuring the mother, who died as her children watched because no ambulance was allowed through the checkpoint that day. “Eight hundred civilians have been killed,” added Sorek. “By killing innocent people,” he pointed out, “we create terrorism.”

He received a standing ovation from about three-quarters of those in the audience when he asserted, “I am responsible for the atrocities of the Israelis. I don’t want to be a part of that. We do have a choice. We should end the occupation and we should get out of there.”

Sorek said he believes that Israel is fighting two wars: one a legitimate war against extremist Islamic movements in the region who don’t see the legitimacy of Israel or the presence of Jews in the Middle East; and the other an unjust war to prevent Palestinians from obtaining their freedom and independence from Israeli occupation. “This is a very important distinction,” he said, and one the Israeli government is trying to blur in its efforts to “mobilize all Israelis to ensure that the occupation will continue forever.”

Israelis, Sorek said, have a “selective memory” and find it easy to forget the victims “on the other side.” Three times as many Palestinians as Israelis have been killed in this current intifada, Sorek noted, but the usual Israeli response is that they were killed “by accident.”

Sorek told the audience that Israelis consider American Jews to be “part of the family” and that, as a result, their voices were effective. He also insisted, however, that applying international pressure on Israel would only antagonize the Jewish state. It is more important, he argued, to “keep the pressure on the Israeli public.”

The Israeli refusenik concluded by describing his hope that in the future, when Israel and the neighboring state of Palestine both have secure borders, “it will be possible for both to cross the borders…like the borders between Maryland and Pennsylvania.”

Area rabbis attending Sorek’s talk included Rabbi Joey Wolf of Havurah Shalom, who sponsored Sorek’s visit, Joshua Stamphor, rabbi emeritus of Portland’s Neveh Shalom Congregation, Daniel Isaak, the current rabbi of Neveh Shalom and a former president of the Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East. While conceding that the occupation is at the root of the violence, Isaak said he did not support an end to the occupation until a final agreement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians.

Sr. Elaine Kelley is the administrative officer of Friends of Sabeel-North America.