Israeli soldiers protest war service – U.S. veterans support them

After a year of genocidal war on the people of Gaza, some 130 Israeli soldiers who had been called up from the reserves signed an open letter saying they will no longer serve in the Israeli army unless the government works towards a captive and ceasefire deal.

According to an article in The New Arab, the letter “was addressed to the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cabinet members and the army’s chief of staff.” In it the soldiers say they “will no longer serve in the Israeli army unless the government works towards a captive and ceasefire deal.”

“Continuing the war in Gaza does not only delay the hostages’ return from captivity but also endangers their lives,” the letter reads. It asserts that more captives have been killed by Israeli strikes than rescued.

“We announce that if the government does not immediately change course and work toward a deal to bring the hostages back home, we will not be able to continue serving,” the letter says.

The soldiers are “reservists and draftees from the Armored Corps, the Artillery Corps, the Home Front Command, the Air Force and the Navy.” In interviews with various media, soldiers expressed not only their exhaustion from what they consider Netanyahu’s “forever war” but their revulsion at serving with ultrarightists who gleefully commit war crimes by using Palestinian civilians as human shields. (Haaretz, CNN, New Arab)

Some had volunteered after Oct. 7, 2023, but their experience in a year of genocidal war had disillusioned them. It reminded many U.S. veterans of the Vietnam period as well as from the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations of a path taken by U.S. troops that — under the revolutionary pressure of the Vietnamese guerrilla army — often led to active resistance.

U.S. veterans send support

In an effort to encourage dissent in the Israel Occupation Forces and to build an anti-war movement in the U.S. too, the U.S. organization Veterans For Peace has issued a statement in support of Israeli soldiers who are refusing to fight in Gaza.

“You are doing the right thing,” the veterans group writes, while applauding the Israeli military reservists who are calling for a ceasefire and the release of hostages and who say they will not participate in genocide. “Your courageous stance may be answered by official threats and even imprisonment, but you will never regret refusing to kill innocent Palestinian men, women and children.”

The ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza is a “stain on human history, and it must be ended,” said Veterans For Peace. The organization has chapters in over 100 US cities and several international chapters.

VFP also appealed to U.S. troops: “As veterans who have participated in too many illegal and immoral wars, we also want to address our young sisters and brothers, daughters and sons in the U.S. military. The U.S. has 40,000 troops deployed on ships and at bases throughout the Middle East. President Biden recently sent 100 U.S. troops to be stationed in Israel just as Israel is preparing to attack Iran and is bracing for Iran’s promised response.

“The U.S. is also backing Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. The U.S. military itself has recently dropped bombs in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Now there is active discussion about waging war on Iran! Are U.S. troops being purposely deployed where they will be targets and casualties? Is this the way that the Biden administration will back us into a war with Iran?”

(The information on the VFP appeal is from an article by VFP past chairperson and current board member Gerry Condon, published by Countercurrents on Oct. 24.)

Catalinotto is author of “Turn the Guns Around: Mutinies, Soldier Revolts and Revolutions,” which reviews the history of resistance within the armed forces of imperialist countries in different historical periods, including in the U.S. war against Vietnam.