Learning resistance from the heart of the war machine

Groepen dienstplichtige Israëlische tieners hebben de voorbije maanden al herhaaldelijk in het openbaar verklaard dienst te weigeren in het Israëlische leger (IDF). Dit uit protest tegen de genocide in Gaza en de voortdurende bezetting van de Palestijnse gebieden. De dienstweigeraars roepen op tot beëindiging van de oorlog en sporen andere jongeren aan om zich eveneens te verzetten tegen de dienstplicht en het militaristische systeem waarin ze zijn opgegroeid. Hun daad van burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid sluit aan bij een lange traditie van gewetensbezwaren in Israël. En krijgt nu nog meer betekenis in een tijd van toenemend geweld en onderdrukking, ook in Libanon en Iran. We publiceren hier het getuigenis van Shahaf Weisbein van het Refuser Solidarity Network.

Ik ben Shahaf Weisbein en schrijf vanuit de hooglanden van Chiapas in Mexico. Als Israëlische tiener heb ik als gewetensbezwaarde geweigerd dienst te nemen in het Israëlische leger. Gedreven door een hart vol empathie en zonder enige bereidheid om een gewelddadig regime te dienen, blijft dit een van de beslissingen waar ik in mijn leven het meest trots op ben.

Het was voor mij trouwens de enige beslissing die ik kon nemen na mijn bezoek aan Palestijnse gemeenschappen aan de andere kant van de beruchte scheidingsmuur.

Ik besef nu dat dit slechts het begin was van mijn politieke bewustwordingsproces. Vandaag deel ik graag enkele gedachten met jullie vanuit Israël-Palestina, Chiapas en mijn werk bij het Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN), waar ik het verzet tegen genocide en bezetting probeer een stem te geven.

Will you join me in supporting the resistance?

Growing up in a militaristic society like Israel that is always on the verge of war has an impact that was not easy for me to unlearn. I was socialized to National trauma and anxiety, victim mentality, and the endless justification of Jewish supremacy. It is a tough starting point for political activism.

Growing up, I believed Zionism was a term representing collective autonomy from antisemitic repression and a more general care for my society.

Once I visited Palestinian communities for the first time in my life after growing up in a segregated society, I began to understand Zionism from the standpoint of its victims.

I dove deep into the history of Zionism and settler colonialism and I listened to the stories of Palestinian communities and activists. I began to wonder: is Zionism just racial supremacy and blind patriotism?

This set me down the path of a years-long process of unlearning, asking questions, and soul searching: how to be part of resistance movements that are deeply solidaristic, knowing you grew up convinced you have a natural right to the land. How do we truly unlearn privilege?

I grew to love being an activist in the movement against the occupation, partaking in collective actions to dismantle apartheid from within. The best practices were always to fight the occupation with our feet, to be present where the abuse happens, to make our unlearning an act of civil disobedience.

Israeli war resisters, like those RSN supports, are taking collective responsibility every day. At RSN, we support collectives who work and plan non-violent actions in opposition to war and genocide, collectives who stand with Palestinians in East Jerusalem against home dispossession, and groups who demilitarize society by supporting refusers.

For me, activism and unlearning went hand in hand. The groups RSN supports do exactly that: they both take action and educate the public, reaching people who are in the same place I was as a young teen.

Many years of movements on the ground have taught me that as much as there is a need to unlearn, there is also a need to learn and inspire.

Eager to learn about the Zapatistas in Mexico

I got to Chiapas (Mexico) five years ago eager to learn about the Zapatistas, the indigenous Mayan communities who took back their lands from an exploitative feudal system, and who declared autonomy, challenging their own erasure.

They created their own school systems, modernized ancestral Mayan medicine, created a non-punitive justice system, and built true self-governance for their communities.

Just last year, they made their lands common to anyone who wishes to come work on it, calling it COMUN, inviting the world to work the land together.

Walking alongside the Zapatista communities is a true learning experience of building, or rebuilding, from below, from a grassroots level, another way of doing politics.

One that doesn’t look for power, but to be of service to others. Through my work in RSN, I am eager to accompany and walk alongside groups who bring to life this spirit, who continue to unlearn through action, and who rebuild and rethink. From Jerusalem to Chiapas and now through RSN, walking alongside the people’s movements is a process. Join us.

It is a privilege to be able to walk this path, and to support resistance internationally. We cannot do it alone. Your backing makes actual resistance to war and genocide possible. It funds organizing, demonstrations and everything in between.

We are challenging the war machine from its heart. Please, walk this path alongside us. Join us. Support War Refusers.

Caminando con los pueblos,

Shahaf Weisbein, RSN

Since 2003, Resistance Solidarity Network (RSN) has supported nonviolent struggle by Israeli citizens who resist war, occupation and Apartheid. We offer movement organizers training and support. We fund legal fees and mental support for youth and soldiers who refuse to military service, and are often imprisoned.

We help build press and social media campaigns that tell war resisters’ stories to Israeli and global audiences. Israeli war resisters work to end the Israeli occupation, end Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories and create a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis – Resistance Solidarity Network (formerly Refuser Solidarity Network) is here for them: https://www.refuser.org/

Stand with us against war on Iran and Lebanon https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-israelis-demonstrating-against-war/

International Conscientious Objection Day 2026

On 15 May 2026, International Conscientious Objection Day, we join together to send a clear and powerful message: we reject militarisation and affirm the right to refuse to kill, in response to growing efforts to promote military service as a solution to today’s crises.

Organising against conscription

What would happen if there were a war, countries called people up and no one showed up? This well-known idea captures, in many ways, one of the strongest horizons of CO movements.

We see it everywhere, all the time: in the news, on our feeds, in the streets. Militarised responses to every kind of conflict and crisis, big and small. And who’s behind it?

The usual suspects, of course: powerful states with long histories of militarisation and economic power, and corporations whose only real interest is profit no matter the cost.

We’re told this is inevitable. That there are no alternatives. That we just have to get used to it.

But WE REFUSE that logic. Because beyond governments, war profiteers, and systems that feed on violence, there are people resisting; every day. Movements that challenge these dynamics and keep alive tools that have long been powerful in times of war. One of those tools is conscientious objection.

In the face of multiple wars unfolding at once, governments are increasingly turning to conscription, reintroducing it or seriously considering it, especially in places where it was suspended years ago.

Lawmakers and politicians justify this by claiming it will ‘strengthen’ young people, or that it is the only way to make them participate in society.

But this discourse ignores reality. It ignores the deep psychological and physical impact conscription has had and continues to have on young people. It also imposes a narrow, militarised idea of what it means to contribute to society, as if younger generations were not already building communities, caring for one another, and creating change in countless other ways.

This current reality is concerning, but history has shown that refusal is also an answer. An answer that usually comes with many challenges. And this is precisely why organising against conscription is urgent and more relevant than ever.

This is the focus of this year’s International Conscientious Objection Day, and a call to act.

Across the world, people are organising against the return and expansion of conscription. International Conscientious Objection Day is a moment to make this resistance visible, collective, and impossible to ignore.

We invite individuals, groups, and movements to take action: Make refusal visible

Organise public actions, protests, vigils, or creative interventions that challenge conscription and affirm the right to refuse.

Shift the narrative, support conscientious objectors. Use social media, stand in solidarity with those refusing military service, help us amplify their voices via sharing their stories. Follow WRI website and social media for further stories and resources.

Build networks of resistance

Connect with others in your country or region. Create or strengthen groups that can respond collectively to conscription policies.

Raise awareness: Organise workshops, teach-ins, or (if possible) school-based discussions to inform young people about their rights and alternatives.

Link struggles: Connect resistance to conscription with broader struggles against militarisation, war, and violence.

No matter how large or small, every action contributes to building a world where war is not seen inevitable, and supported: https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2026/international-conscientious-objection-day-2026

Israel: Solidarity with refusers in prison https://wri-irg.org/en/programmes/rrtk/co-action-alert/2025/israel-solidarity-refusers-prison

Het EBCO-jaarrapport 2025: EBCO Annual Report 2025, Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe

This report is the result of a collective effort, and I would like to warmly thank everyone who contributed to its preparation, research, editing, review, coordination and publication. And of course especially our ‘EBCO report Working Group’. It is a demanding piece of work, but also one of EBCO’s most important advocacy tools, especially in the current European context of militarization (Theo Diamantidis).

‘Stories of Conscientious Objectors from Europe and Beyond’ (QCEA)

We are excited to announce the release of our new publication, ‘Stories of Conscientious Objectors from Europe and Beyond’

The book features personal stories from people in eight countries who have bravely chosen to break the cycle of violence.

It highlights the human side of saying ‘no’ to war and supports those whose voices are often overlooked. We also celebrate courage of our participants and their right to choose peace.

This project is a collaboration between QCEA (Quaker Council for European Affairs, Brussels), Connection e.V. (Offenbach/Main), War Resisters’ International (London), and Agir pour la Paix (Brussels).

We invite you to read it here: https://www.qcea.org/voices-of-peace-stories-of-conscientious-objectors-from-europe-and-beyond/

Lees ook:

• Bibliothèque Jean-Van Lierdehttps://agirpourlapaix.be/bibliotheque-jean-van-lierde/
• Agir pour la Paix https://agirpourlapaix.be/aplp/
• Hoorzitting in Vlaams parlement over petitie ‘Stop Wapens voor Israël’ https://cimic-npo.org/2026/04/29/72-018/
• No to War in Iran – Joint Call from Conscientious Objectors from Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, and Israel https://cimic-npo.org/2026/03/30/71-010/
• “Bij de twee kanten heerst de mening dat er alleen vrede kan zijn als de andere zijde verdwijnt” – Tom Khaled Würdemann over verzoening in Israël/Gaza https://cimic-npo.org/2025/10/24/66-007/
• Gaza is starving – how Israel’s allies can go beyond words and take meaningful action https://cimic-npo.org/2025/09/27/65-017/
• Israel’s ‘refuseniks’: a growing number of soldiers are refusing to serve in Netanyahu’s war on Gaza https://cimic-npo.org/2025/09/27/65-018/
• “I couldn’t wear a uniform that symbolizes killing and oppression”
  Israeli activist who refuses to serve in the Israeli army https://cimic-npo.org/2025/03/20/61-006/
• As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel https://cimic-npo.org/2024/09/26/55-010/
• Niettegenstaande alles! Israëlische vredesstemmen voor een einde aan het geweld en voor meer begrip in Israël én Palestina https://cimic-npo.org/2023/10/23/46-017/
• Israël-Palestina: een van de meest dramatische uitwassen van het Europese racisme en kolonialisme https://cimic-npo.org/2023/10/23/46-016/
• At least 49,000 soldiers and officers have deserted the Russian army since the beginning of the war in Ukraine https://cimic-npo.org/2025/05/28/63-013/
• Dienstweigering en desertie als fundamenteel verzet tegen militarisering en oorlog https://cimic-npo.org/2024/12/12/58-010/
• Wat gebeurt er met het recht op gewetensbezwaren in een Europa onder oorlogsdreiging? https://cimic-npo.org/2024/05/27/53-010/
• Twee jaar na het begin van de oorlog: Connection e.V. en Pro Asyl bekritiseren de afwijzing van Russische dienstweigeraars https://cimic-npo.org/2024/02/29/50-005/
• Steun Russische en Oekraïense deserteurs en dienstweigeraars, ze saboteren de oorlog van onderuit https://cimic-npo.org/2024/01/28/49-008/
• De strijd van iemand die niet wil doden https://cimic-npo.org/2023/02/26/40-012/
• Europa voor vrede en solidariteit – Stop de oorlog in Oekraïne! https://cimic-npo.org/2023/01/30/39-010/

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Lees ook (inhoud mei 2026)

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