Comments on: Canadian woman gets 3 months in IDF jail for draft dodging

By: Oriol2

Oriol2 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:36:55 +0000

The sentence is obviously stupid, and actually I am against universal draft -I suppose it is easier to be against draft in Catalonia than in Israel, but I am against draft anyway-. But I don’t think this incident is exceptional: exactly the same could have happened in many other countries. I remember of a case which happened in the eighties in Spain: the older cousin of a high school friend was in the pre-enlisting period and he crossed the French frontier to make some shopping. He had a car accident and, as he was supposed to enlist some days later, was arrested as suspicious of trying to go abroad to avoid draft. After much discussion he was freed. Fortunately we don’t have compulsory draft anymore.

By: vadim

vadim — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:09:04 +0000

Comment deleted

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:54:33 +0000

Comment deleted

By: Mitchell Cohen

Mitchell Cohen — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:56:09 +0000

FWIW, this is a stupid law. My wife and I had a young couple as guests at our Shabbat table a couple of months ago. The husband grew up in Israel and left with his parents at age 18. He came back a few years later (on his own and already married), with EVERY intention of serving in the IDF. He was not looking to be a shirker. One of the first things he did when he came back to Israel (after only being back for a couple of days) was report to Lishkat Giyus. He reported with EVERY intention of enlisting in the IDF as he was required to. So, what did the IDF do? They put him in military prison for three months for “draft dodging” (with no chance for him to go back home first, see his wife, get things together, etc.; at least they didn’t have kids yet). This is somebody who came back to serve!!!! He did end up doing a year of service after he got out of military prison, but why all that wasted time (both for him and the IDF) in prison? I am in agreement with Ami on this one. The IDF has a heavy handed trigger policy on cases like this and it needs to be re-evaluated to say the least.

By: Ami Kaufman

Ami Kaufman — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:05:24 +0000

Actually, i do. And if it wasn’t for your condescending tone insinuating I don’t know my facts, I’d actually engage you in this discussion which I think is important.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 06:49:55 +0000

@Ami

You make this comparison and I don’t.

Lest we forget, war is murder and murder is unlawful in peacetime. Confusing to say the least.

Of course there are war crimes and the IDF soldier from Gaza was tried and convicted but I don’t know the circumstances of the shooting.He may well have been given bad or confusing orders regarding the rules of engagement. I don’t know. Do you?

By: Ami Kaufman

Ami Kaufman — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:31:11 +0000

Why not compare? Shouldn’t one get more time for killing? Don’t we compare everyday? Doesn’t every country in the world have a heirarchy of punishment in their legal systems? Do you not find it ridiculous to begin with, that this soldier got 45 days?

By: Greg Pollock

Greg Pollock — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:07:26 +0000

apples and oranges: different species

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:07:55 +0000

I don’t see how you make the apples and oranges comparison between a draft dodger’s sentence and combat zone veteran’s sentence.

But what do I know, I was fortunate enough to grow up in a country that doesn’t have compulsory military service.

I wonder what Yana Gurick thinks about the female IDF sniper who killed an armed terrorist the other day in a firefight on Israel’s border?

Hero or frier?