RSS
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.
—
The post American Israeli Tal Mitnick sentenced to 30 more days for refusing Israeli army service appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login