\n
As we speak at his home in southern Israel, his two young children are sleeping in the next room. \u201cThere’s no way to fight the war and to prosecute a military campaign without these images happening,\u201d he says. He then uses an expression heard in the past from Israeli leaders: \u201cYou can’t mow the lawn without grass flying up. It is not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says the blame belongs to Hamas who went to \u201crandomly slaughter as many Jews as possible, women, children, soldiers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The imperative of fighting the war has postponed a deepening struggle over the future character of the Jewish state. It is, in large part, a conflict between the secularist ideals held by people like Michael Ofer-Zif and Yuval Green, and the increasingly powerful religious right represented by the settlements movement, and their champions in Netanyahu\u2019s cabinet, including figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n
Add to that the lingering, widespread anger over the government\u2019s attempts to dilute the power of the country\u2019s judiciary in 2023 – it led to mass demonstrations in the months before October 7 – and the stage is set for a turbulent politics long after the war ends.<\/p>\n
On both sides it is not unusual to hear people talk of a struggle for the soul of Israel.<\/p>\n
Maj Lipsky was packing to return to military duty on the evening I met him, sure of his duty and responsibility. No peace until Hamas was defeated.<\/p>\n
Among the refusers I spoke with, there was a determination to stand by their principles. Michael Ofer-Ziv may leave Israel, unsure whether he can be happy in the country. \u201cIt just looks less and less likely that I will be able to hold the values that I hold, wanting the future that I want for my kids to live here, and that is very scary,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Yuval Green is training to become a doctor, and hopes that a settlement can be reached between peacemakers among the Israeli and Palestinian people. \u201cI think in this conflict, there are only two sides, not the Israeli side and the Palestinian side. There is the side that supports violence and the side that supports, you know, finding better solutions.\u201d There are many Israelis who would disagree with that analysis, but it won\u2019t stop his mission.<\/p>\n
Top image credit: Getty <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we speak at his home in southern Israel, his two young children are sleeping in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[549,190,1157,687,4147,4148,2814],"class_list":["post-49263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-fight","tag-gaza","tag-idf","tag-men","tag-refusers","tag-volunteered","tag-wont"],"yoast_head":"\n
IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won't fight in Gaza - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won't fight in Gaza\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-03T22:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won't fight in Gaza - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won't fight in Gaza","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2024-12-03T22:16:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=49263"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won’t fight in Gaza","datePublished":"2024-12-03T22:16:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=49263"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png","keywords":["Fight","Gaza","IDF","men","refusers","volunteered","wont"],"articleSection":["Top Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=49263","url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o","name":"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won't fight in Gaza - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png","datePublished":"2024-12-03T22:16:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bf31db20-b0cb-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.png","width":1024,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5yx56ep165o#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won’t fight in Gaza"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}