‘I refused to join the Israel Defence Forces – here is what happened’

Tal Mitnick seems different from his pictures – for one, his hair has been buzzed off.

The teenager is wearing a black T-shirt that reads ‘Public Enemy.’ He also carries an air of maturity, way beyond his years, as if life’s challenges have left a mark on him already.

This is what six months in one of Israel’s prisons will do to young men who refuse to serve in the military over the massacre in Gaza.

Tal, 19, is the first Israeli citizen to be imprisoned as a conscientious objector in the war. After speaking out publicly, he was labelled a traitor by many in his country, but that did not dissuade him.

Speaking from his childhood bedroom at his home in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv, he told Metro that he had spent most of 2024 in and out of prison.

After refusing his mandatory draft to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in December 2023, he was hauled up in front of a judge who sentenced him to 30 days in custody.

‘I was not expecting it,’ Tal said, recalling the moment he was locked up. ‘I had even made plans to see friends later and go out for a pint. They were not going to see me for a month.

‘That is the point where I knew that my refusal is going to be different from past ones. Sadly, I became the poster boy for the refusenik movement post October 7.’

His freedom afterwards was short-lived. After his release from prison, the IDF instructed him to report for duty again and again and again, but Tal did not back down.

Altogether, he spent 185 days in prison until the military conceded defeat and sent him an exemption letter – but he does not regret any of it.

Tal said: ‘I explained my reasons. I told them I will not carry a gun and hurt people. I do not want to take part in a system that is built on violence.’

Metro spoke with him shortly after his return to civilian life, as he began adjusting to a new reality.

‘I cannot describe how good it feels,’ he said. ‘Knowing that I do not have to spend more time in prison and be with my family and girlfriend… it really is freeing.

‘I can finally enter civilian life, I can get a job and study – it is amazing. And my mother is very happy too. The day that I received the exemption I was supposed to go into another period of imprisonment. I said goodbye to her, thinking I was not going to see her for another month. But that afternoon, I was told it was all over.’

Tal still takes part in organising protests against the government and also ‘sharing the knowledge’ he has gained through the painful process of refusing military service.

He is part of Mesarvot, an Israeli network of anti-occupation activists that aims to support political military service objectors.

He believes his action against the IDF may have given courage to others to do the same.

In the last year, the organisation has helped 10 people who have refused the mandatory draft and spoken out publicly.

Under Israeli law, it is illegal to encourage people to become objectors, so Tal has been careful not to do that.

Instead, he urged Israelis to ‘consider what enlistment is going to result in’ and what they are achieving.’

‘Am I achieving security? Am I bettering the place I live in? Or am I keeping up a militarised society? That is what I recommend that people consider,’ he said.

Even before the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in his early teenage years, Tal knew that he ‘did not want to be a fighter and hold a gun’.

‘I saw another tempting path as I was good at maths,’ he said. ‘People who are good at maths can go to the intelligence units [instead of in the field] and then they are set for life. To a 13-year-old, that sounds amazing.’

Even though he grew up in a liberal family of US immigrants, it took him years to stumble on opinions outside his ‘Israeli echo chamber’ and realise what he would be joining.

He said: ‘When I realised what it is really these intelligence units actually do, I thought it does not matter if I am holding a gun or not.

‘This whole system is aiding the ongoing occupation. This is a choice made by my government and sadly, by my people. It is not giving me security and it is not giving Palestinians security, and it is only elongating the conflict that has been ongoing for more than 75 years.’

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