Sandler, Sergeiy

Sandler, Sergeiy

Sergeiy Sandler

13 August 2011Feature

CO activist Sergeiy Sandler reports on the rising tide of objection to military service in Israel during the second intifada.

Thirty-two people is a small number. A demonstration with thirty-two participants would hardly be worthy of the word. But since October 2000, thirty-two people were imprisoned or otherwise penalised in Israel for refusing to perform military duty on conscientious and political grounds.

Thirty-two may not be such a small figure after all. It is even rather large if we compare it to the figure for the preceding year - only three. It is also not that small because it actually represents…

1 March 2003Feature

Israeli women who object to military service find themselves marginalised by both "normal" society and within the resistance movement. Ruth Hiller and Sergeiy Sandler report on a New Profile initiative to challenge the influence of dominant gender constructs within the activist community.

It is a little known fact that Israel is the only country with mandatory conscription for women. This makes the draft resistance of Israeli women, which is undoubtedly a major component of the entire resistance movement, into a unique phenomenon.

As the total numbers of draft resisters rise, the numbers of young women requesting exemption from military service on grounds of conscience also continue to remain very high.

Hidden resistance

Female conscripts are traditionally…

1 June 2001Feature

Drawing on his personal experience, Sergeiy Sandler examines the motivations and consequences of resisting military service as part of a masculine identity.

When Peace News asked me to write this essay, I found myself in a strange position. Here I am, a conscientious objector to military service, and a feminist, asked to write about the connection between conscientious objection and gender identity from my particular personal perspective, and not knowing where to begin. After all, strange as it may seem, I had never thought of this connection in this respect before.

I would like to begin by explaining why I never thought of my…