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American Israeli Tal Mitnick sentenced to 30 more days for refusing Israeli army service
(JTA) — Tal Mitnick, an 18-year-old dual American-Israeli citizen, is beginning his second 30-day sentence for refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli army.
Mitnick had long planned to refuse to serve, citing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians under occupation. His determination was bolstered by the devastation caused by the Israel-Hamas war, launched on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, massacring more than 1,200 people, brutalizing thousands more and abducting more than 240.
More than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Israel says roughly a third of that number are combatants.
“Israel has already lost this war,” Mitnick told The Guardian in a story posted Tuesday, the day he was ordered to return to a recruitment base to enlist for three years of military service as part of Israel’s mandatory draft. “More killing and more violence won’t bring back the lives lost on 7 October. I know people are hurt. Traumatized. But this doesn’t make anything better. To root out extremist ideas from Palestinian society, we must root them out in Israel.”
Refusal to enlist is rare in Israel, where support for the military is widespread among Israeli Jews and a mandatory term of service — three years for men and two for women — is broadly seen as a patriotic duty and rite of passage. Arab and haredi Orthodox Israelis are exempt from the draft, though small numbers of both sectors enlist voluntarily.
Before Oct. 7, growing numbers of reservists had pledged to absent themselves from duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul. But following Hamas’ invasion, nearly all controversy over military service within Israel evaporated and reservists reported en masse for the largest call-up of troops in the country’s history. About a month into the war, a poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute found that more than 90% of Israeli Jews approved of the IDF, as opposed to 17% of Israeli Arabs.
Speaking to the Guardian, Mitnick said he knew he would be tried and sentenced again, as he was when he first reported to the recruitment base in December.
He had a few days of freedom before returning to the base on Tuesday and receiving another sentence. He spoke about the sentence on X, formerly Twitter, where he extended best wishes to a Turkish Cypriot refuser who was beginning his sentence the same day.
“I want to extend my solidarity to Cypriot conscience objector Mustafa Hürben,” he said. “Mustafa and I will both be jailed today (23.1). International solidarity between us is the way to fight against oppressive systems in each of our countries.”
Mitnick has earned extensive coverage in left-leaning media both overseas and in Israel. His refusal is backed by Mesarvot, a support network for Israelis refusing service.
Mitnick’s late father, Josh Mitnick, was a celebrated American Israeli reporter who freelanced for a number of outlets, including the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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The post American Israeli Tal Mitnick sentenced to 30 more days for refusing Israeli army service appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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