Former IDF soldier, former Hamas member, and active duty U.S. military C.O.s call for Gaza ceasefire

By Mike Ferner

A group of former fighters from Palestine and Israel plus active duty U.S. G.I.s announced last week why they decided to stop participating in war and urged U.S. military members to tell Congress to stop funding Israel’s genocide in Gaza via the “Appeal for Redress v2.”

The online news conference was organized by Veterans For Peace and featured a former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) special forces member, a young Israeli who just finished 85 days in jail for refusing to join the military, a former Hamas youth activist, and three active-duty U.S. military members who are awaiting discharge as conscientious objectors.

Elik Elhanan, is former special forces soldier in the Israeli Defense Force from 1995-98, served in south Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza.  In 1997, his 14-year old sister was killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem.  He joined Courage to Refuse in 2002, co-founded the Israeli-Palestinian group Combatants for Peace in 2005 and now serves on the board of American Friends of Combatants for Peace.

He said, “My service made it clear that violence became an end rather than a means.  In nonviolence I found a language for community building that allows for self-expression and exchange, while engaging in fierce resistance against the hegemonic discourse.” Elik received his PhD in Middle East studies from Columbia University and is currently teaching at City College New York.

Sofia Or, 19, spent 85 days in an Israeli military jail for refusing to join the Israeli Defense Force. Granted conscientious objector status and released in June, she wrote in her statement of refusal, “I refuse to enlist in order to show that change is needed and that change is possible, for the security and safety of all of us in Israel-Palestine, and in the name of empathy that is not restricted by national identity…I want to create a reality in which all children between the Jordan River and the [Mediterranean] sea can dream without cages.”

Ahmed Helou, now 52, lives in the West Bank and is a member of Combatants for Peace. He said, “I was born to a refugee family that was forced to flee from their home in 1948. Most went to Gaza while my parents fled to Jericho. They told me how Palestinians were killed right in front of them and how they passed by many bodies as they ran for safety.”

“At 15, I was invited to join a group called Hamas, to fight for the freedom of my people. It was 1987, the First Intifada. I threw rocks and made Palestinian flags.  In 1992, I was sentenced to seven months in an Israeli military prison as a political detainee. When my parents visited, they told me about the Oslo process and I couldn’t stop thinking about how we could have another life.

In 2004, a friend invited me to participate in a workshop with Israelis. I was shocked and angry. How could you ask me to meet my enemy who killed my people, took my land, and made me a refugee? By the fourth day, I found myself asking them, ‘Are you really Israelis?’ I had never met any who were not in uniform or carrying out violence – until then, I could not see their humanity. After the seminar, I wanted to know more about the ‘other side,’ to hear their stories and understand them. Then I found Combatants for Peace.

My wife and I have lost over 80 members of our extended family, including parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins in this war. My one remaining sister, Eman, and her five children are still alive. We are desperate to save them. Every day we awake in fear of what news will come. I hope I will be able to reunite with my sister and her family and be able to live together in peace, safety, and security. All we want is to live together without fear. We are scared for our children’s lives and are doing all we can to protect them from the violence.”

USAF Senior Airman Larry Hebert said, “As an active duty servicemember who joined believing our military was a force for good in the world, I’m horrified by the position of the United States government to fully support the genocide and occupation of civilians in Palestine. I’m also horrified by the true nature of war and its motives. The men and women who recognize their morals and beliefs and act on them are sometimes mistakenly taken as emotional. The truth is that having morals and standing firm on them is a sign of moral intelligence that many people seem to lack. Our complacency towards human suffering while seeing who profits from it is intolerable. I extend my heart to Palestine and those suffering from the country I used to have pride in. These are my views, not those of the Dept. of Defense.”

USAF Senior Airman Juan Bettancourt said, “After 311 days, the death toll is appalling: nearly 41,000 innocent lives brutally taken, the majority women and children. Excruciating reports estimate a devastating total of 186,000 deaths, with almost 93,000 more suffering from severe injuries. Stories of widespread sexual violence, merciless executions, torture, and an endless list of war crimes flood the news, and yet our government remains apathetic to the suffering of Palestinians and the cries of millions calling for a lasting ceasefire and justice. As conscientious objectors, as advocates for peace and human rights, as service members with a shred of moral decency left in us, we adamantly refuse to be accomplices in this genocide. We demand an immediate, unilateral ceasefire and the cessation of all weapons transfers to the reprehensible state of Israel. These are my views, not those of the Dept. of Defense.”

USAF Second Lt. Joy Metzler said, “As an active duty service member, I have been told repeatedly that military strength is the only way to counteract the threats we face in the world. But once again we see that violence, this time perpetrated by the Israeli government, only leads to death and destruction in an ever growing conflict. Hate begets hate, so I am calling for a ceasefire and an end to the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These are my views, not those of the Dept. of Defense.”

Mike Ferner, Special Projects Coordinator for Veterans For Peace, said “It is highly significant that former fighters from Israel and Palestine have joined American G.I.s to say, ‘War is not the answer.’ A growing number of G.I.s tell us they are disturbed about being in the military while our government funds the bombing of innocent people in Gaza. Now we can see that soldiers from all sides of this conflict are sickened by a war run by tyrants benefitting only weapons makers, that is both morally repugnant and violates U.S. laws with every weapons transfer to Israel.”

Tiffany Goodwin-Van Camp, Executive Director of American Friends of Combatants for Peace shared a message from the Combatants for Peace movement, “We refuse to be pitted against each other as enemies. We support peace, freedom and dignity for all peoples between the river and the sea and an end to the occupation harming both Palestinians and Israelis. Our ultimate goal is collective liberation because we know that the fate of Israelis, Palestinians and all of us is intertwined. Every day, CfP activists live out the values of nonviolence, empathy and mutual recognition, holding each other’s grief and pain. The trauma is endless and ongoing but our community provides hope. It shows that another way is possible; that violence is not inevitable but a human choice that we can change. The only real solution is a hostage/prisoner deal now and a political agreement based on our shared humanity.”

Civilian defense attorney James M. Branum said, “Too many service members are wrongly told by their commanders that they ‘have no right’ to speak out about what is happening in Gaza. This is not true as communications to Congress, such as the Appeal for Redress v2, are ‘protected communications’ under military regulations.”

Bill Galvin, Counseling Coordinator at the Center on Conscience & War, said, “Our office has received calls from six new conscientious objectors in the past week. Some of them have said they feel complicit in the violence happening in Gaza. All of them have clearly said that participating in that conflict is morally wrong. That’s why the Center on Conscience & War is supporting this Appeal for Redress.”

Ariel Gold, Executive Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation said, “Despite the pro-war hysteria that countries use to justify their military endeavors, conscientious objection remains a courageous option for those committed to peace. The Fellowship of Reconciliation supports resistance to war as we know that war is an abomination in the eyes of God and inherently unable to birth peace.”

Diana Oestreich a former Army combat medic in the Iraq War, was a conscientious objector and is development coordinator for Red Letter Christians.  She said, “As soldiers we gave an oath to serve our Country. Seeing the destruction in Iraq firsthand showed many of us our duty to be a conscience to our Country. To stand up, instead of stand down when lives and our country and faiths integrity is on the line. We are serving our country by refusing war. These military members today are following in the footsteps of courageous soldiers before them who are countering the failed narrative that we can bomb our way to peace.”

To increase the awareness of this campaign among members of the military, civilian supporters of the appeal are encouraged to share it on social media and to ask peace and justice organizations to share it with their membership.

Initiated by active-duty military members, veterans and G.I. rights groups, “Appeal for Redress v2,” is modeled after the 2006 Appeal for Redress conducted during the highly unpopular occupation of Iraq, to allow G.I.s to tell their representatives they are opposed to U.S. policy.

Mike Ferner is Special Projects Manager for Veterans For Peace.