No one can state precise numbers. No political party or leader calls for it explicitly. But anyone who has spent time at anti-government protests or on Hebrew-language social media in recent weeks knows it to be true: it is becoming increasingly legitimate to refuse to report for military service in Israel — and not only among the radical left.
In the lead-up to the war, talk of refusal — or more precisely, “ceasing to volunteer” for the reserves — had become a significant feature of the mass protests against the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul. At the height of those protests, in July 2023, over 1,000 pilots and Air Force personnel declared that they would stop showing up for duty unless the legislation was halted, leading to warnings from senior military officials and the head of the Shin Bet that the judicial overhaul endangered national security. …..more
