An interview with Omer Goldman
“I went to this village in the West Bank, and the Israeli army just put a check-point in the middle of the village for no reason just to make it difficult for the people to cross and we wanted to take it off. So they start shooting at us like crazy. And I didn’t understand, like, is the army that I’ve been told all of my life is protecting me, now shooting at me? My whole idea of what they are just vanished.”
“I knew I had to go with my heart because I’m gonna live with myself. You know I didn’t wanna regret for the rest of my life being a part of a system that is so wrong, is so illegal, and doing awful things.”
(what would you say to your father) “Each of us is fighting for our beliefs; I chose the non-violent way, you chose the violent way- It’s very hard for me to answer that. I wish we can get better but I’m not sure it will happen.”
Omer Goldman Granot, from the Tel-Aviv suburb of Ramat HaSharon, is a member of the Shministim, a young Israeli conscientious objector who became famous for being the daughter of Naftali Granot, former deputy to Mossad’s chief Meir Dagan.
She was sentenced to 21 days in military prison for refusing to serve the Israel Defence Forces on 22 September 2008, along with Tamar Katz and Mia Tamarin. She is one of about 40 high school students who signed the 2008 high-school seniors’ (“Shministim”) protest letter. She has spent a second term in prison for refusing to serve again.
Israel’s Young Conscientious Objectors:
http://www.shministim.com/
http://december18th.org/
http://www.whywerefuse.org/
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