Ido Elam, an Israeli objector and
activist who is refusing to be drafted
into the Israel Defense Forces. Ido,
thank you for joining us. Good to see
you. Um, this isn't the first time
you've decided that you don't want to
participate. Tell us about that.
>> I decided to refuse in November 2024. I
was imprisoned for my refusal as all
mandatory conscripts that refuse uh um
do time in prison. Um since then um I
have gotten an exemption from the army
after months of del deliberation and
fighting with them on it. Um but we are
still seeing more and more people refuse
and we are still seeing more people that
we in the MSRvot network for
conscientious objectors um help through
this process and just right now there is
more than nine people in prison that we
know of that refused because of
political grounds. One that entered
today.
>> How are people responding to your point
of view?
Much of my society unfortunately
um does not agree with me. Um many
people um you know send us death threats
uh hate um wish us ailments uh online
but that doesn't mean that we don't have
support. Many of the citizens in my
country are actually Palestinian
citizens of Israel. many of who uh fight
with us on this topic against the
genocide and against um the starvation
in Gaza. Um, and we're seeing also much
of the mainstream and more um Jewish
side of society um start to realize that
this war is horrible for all of us and
that it's killing our hostages too and
that serving this war is committing um
all the crimes and it's either that
you're complicit or that they refuse. So
we are seeing every week like I said
more refusnik. Last week one uh refusnic
entered prison. This week another two
weeks ago two more and in the future it
will be more and then a certain point
they will have to acknowledge us because
we are growing and we are strong.
>> Because of conscription I'm guessing
you'll have school friends who have gone
into the IDF that are serving. Do you
still speak to them? What do they say?
Do you have any friends who perhaps wish
they'd done similar but felt that they
couldn't?
>> This is a very important thing um to ask
because it's important to specify that
many Israelis 18 years old do not have
the network of support that I have um in
order to refuse. Many of them tell me
that they wanted to refuse or didn't
want to go to the army because of their
moral compass but their parents are
pressuring them, their teachers
pressured them, uh friends pressured
them. Imagine that everybody around you
is going to the army and they might
disown you if you don't go to it. I am
lucky to have the full support of my
family and friends, but I know many
people that go to the army out of
feeling that like they have to. My main
goal in refusing is to talk with young
people and convince them that there's
always options. There's always options
for everybody. And what we are doing in
our network for objectors is giving that
backing and that network for people um
in order that even if they don't have
that at home, they might still be able
to refuse or at least not go to the army
because in the end of the day, do you
want to be 18 years old a war criminal
for the rest of your life or do you want
to refuse stand your moral ground and be
a part of history? That's the two
questions that we have. But what's your
view of those who perhaps believe in
what the IDF is doing? They would
probably point to the threats they
perceive from Hamas and Hezbollah and
previously the Iranian government. What
do you think of their point of view?
>> I understand it. I know how it is to be
in Israel. I know what the Israeli
thought process is. Um, to me, for
somebody that has been active since the
age of 14 with Palestinians against the
occupation, it's clear that even after
October the 7th, it's not a solution to
show them more and more force. It's
clear to me that the only way forward is
to stop doing what Netanyahu has done
throughout the years. We arrived at
October the 7th because he gave money
and aid to Kamas. We arrived at October
the 7th because the far right in Israel
perceived kamas as better than the
Palestinian Authority and pushed for it
to rule Gaza. The only way
>> I I'm sorry to interrupt because we are
out of time. Uh Ido, I appreciate you
joining us nonetheless. Thank you very
much indeed. Thank you.