Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Release Conscientious Objector
18-year-old Yuval Peleg has been imprisoned since 10 August 2025 for refusing Israeli military service, citing moral opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza. He joined other objectors like Itamar Greenberg, Yuval Moav, Oryan Mueller, Ella Greenberg, Yona Roseman, Ayana Gerstman, Tal Mitnick and Sofia Orr, who also faced prison for refusing conscription since 7 October 2023. The conscientious objectors are supported by Mesarvot, a growing network that supports those opposing compulsory military service, especially on grounds of opposition to Israeli policies and practices against Palestinians. According to Mesarvot, more than 100 Israelis have refused military service on grounds of conscience since October 2023, but at least 15 have publicly disclosed their cases. Other conscientious objectors include Ben Arad, Iddo Elam, Soul Behar Tsalik, and Neta Lannes Arbel. The majority of conscientious objectors have remained private, fearing societal reprisals and other potential consequences.
Amnesty International considers a conscientious objector to be any person who, for reasons of conscience or profound conviction, refuses to perform service in the armed forces, or any other direct or indirect participation in wars or armed conflicts. This can include refusal to participate in a war because one disagrees with its aims or the manner in which it is being waged, even if one does not oppose taking part in all wars. Amnesty International considers a conscientious objector to be a prisoner of conscience when they are detained or imprisoned solely because they have been denied their right to register an objection or given the possibility of performing a genuinely civilian alternative service. They would also be prisoners of conscience if imprisoned for leaving the armed forces without authorization for reasons of conscience, if they have taken reasonable steps to secure release from military obligations. Amnesty International’s Prisoner of Conscience determination is based on the information available to Amnesty International regarding the circumstances leading to the person’s detention. In naming a person as a Prisoner of Conscience, Amnesty International is affirming that this person must be immediately and unconditionally released but is not endorsing past or present views or conduct by them.
Israeli citizens are legally required to enlist in the military at 18, serving for a period of 24 to 32 months. However, most Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, who make up nearly 21% of Israel population, are exempt from compulsory military service. For decades the Israeli army’s Conscience Committee could decide to allow exemption from military service, but this was usually granted only to those conscientious objectors who refuse to serve on religious grounds, like ultra-Orthodox Jews. However, on 25 June 2024, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students must be drafted into the military, ending decades of exemption.
Even though Israeli law does allow for exemption on grounds of pacifism, the army’s Conscience Committee frequently rejects pacifists' cases. The authorities repeatedly deny objectors the possibility of performing alternative civilian service. Conscientious objectors in Israel can be convicted of and imprisoned for the same “offence” repeatedly. In 2003, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that this practice flouts the rights of conscientious objectors under international human rights standards which prohibit “double jeopardy”.
In 1995, in its Resolution 1998/77, the UN Commission for Human Rights has stated that the right to conscientious objection to military service is protected by Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), right to freedom of religion, conscience and belief. In the resolution, which has been re-endorsed by the Human Rights Council repeatedly, most recently in 2019, the Commission emphasized that states must “refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors to imprisonment and to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service,” recalling “that no one shall be liable or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country.”
In his refusal statement, Yuval Peleg wrote: “As I witness the crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, (...) enlisting in incompatible with the basic principles of life and equality for all human beings, but rather joining a system whose essence is oppression, occupation and destruction.”