U.S. and Israeli military resisters reach out to U.S. service members

Israeli and U.S. military resisters held a zoom news conference Aug. 15 to publicize a call to active duty U.S. service members to declare their opposition to the Israeli massacres in Gaza – and U.S. complicity with what many people consider genocide.

In Israel, there is an establishment-manufactured consensus supporting the criminal war and a massive group of fascist settlers. The individual Israeli “refuseniks” who participated in the news conference were those who had earlier declared themselves Conscientious Objectors to participating in the ongoing military occupation of Palestinian lands. They refuse participation in the current genocide and encouraged U.S. service members to also take this position. 

In the U.S., whose armed forces have been — up to now — involved in the war mostly indirectly, the first strong sign of opposition had come Feb. 25 with the stunning self-immolation of active service member Aaron Bushnell in Washington, D.C. As some of the speakers at the Aug. 15 news conference noted, Bushnell’s ultimate sacrifice inspired them to overcome their reluctance to take a public position. 

The call, which is named “Appeal for Redress V2,” was first publicized in June. It involves urging perfectly legal and Constitutionally approved participation in statements of dissent by sending letters to Congress members. It is named “V2,” because it is modeled on the Appeal for Redress organized at the end of 2006 by sailors, marines and others protesting during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. (workers.org/2007/us/gi-dissent-0118/)

It can also be seen as the early signal that revulsion at U.S.-armed Israeli crimes in Gaza has opened a path to building opposition in the heart of the armed forces — in the U.S. and perhaps also in Israel. Such opposition within the U.S. military grew to a mass level during the U.S. war against Vietnam, when the military was conscripted, and began to manifest during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Stop funding genocide

During the Aug. 15 streamed news conference, three active duty U.S. military members, a veteran of the Israeli military and a current Israeli Conscientious Objector explained why they decided to stop participating in war. While each of the speakers had their own story, all urged U.S. military members to use the “Appeal for Redress V2” to protest their role as accomplices to the war crimes in Gaza.

The veteran, who lost a sister in a suicide bombing, and a Palestinian, who was a participant in the 1987 Intifada and has lost 80 family members in Gaza, together are in Combatants for Peace, an anti-war organization encouraging Conscientious Objection within the Israeli military.

Among the Israeli resisters was Sofia Or, who was released from prison in June after serving 85 days as a C.O. Or said that during that time she learned the power of saying “No” to occupation. “Support for Israel can never lead to anything good,” she added.

U.S. resister Larry Herbert stood in front of the U.S. Capitol refusing to eat “while the children in Gaza starve.” Herbert said that Aaron Bushnell’s action is what made him decide to take this public position. Later he met military veterans from the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.  He believes he is following in their footsteps.

Joy Metzler, a second lieutenant who went to the military academy believing that the U.S. represented freedom and liberty, is now a C.O. She called on “all active duty service people to break with the military and sign the Appeal for Redress.”

The strongest way to experience the 45-minute news conference is to watch it at tinyurl.com/rc8fzn9w.  

For more information and to see the different versions of the appeal, see veteransforpeace.org/take-action/redressv2.

Catalinotto was an organizer with the American Servicemen’s Union from 1967-1970. He attended the Aug. 15 news conference as well as the Jan. 15, 2007, news conference regarding the first Appeal for Redress. He is author of the book “Turn the Guns Around: Mutinies, Soldier Revolts and Revolution,” published in 2017.