omar saad

Uriel Ferera, 19-year-old orthodox Jew from Beer Sheva, enters Tel Ha'Shomer Military Base, where he will announce his refusal to draft to Israeli army service, April 27, 2014. Uriel says he refuses to take part in the occupation and that his request for civil service instead of a military one was rejected by the army.

Freed Israeli conscientious objector: They tried to break me

Uriel Ferera says he doesn’t feel like he lost the 177 days that he spent in military prison. ‘The opposite. I fought for my principles — to not lend a hand to the occupation.’ By Daniel Beller After 177 days in Israeli military prison and 10 trials, ideological conscientious objector Uriel Ferera is a free man. When…

By +972 Magazine December 23, 2014

Omar Sa'ad, a Palestinian-Druze conscientious objector, walks into the Tiberias induction base, where he will state his refusal to be drafted to the Israeli army, December 4, 2013. Over 100 family members, friends and activists protested on Wednesday morning to support Omar, who is expected to sent to military prison after refusing the draft. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

[WATCH] The Druze in Israel: Resisting conscription (part 4)

According to the mainstream Israeli narrative the Druze population in Israel is loyal to and maintains an alliance with the state, the most famous element of which includes mandatory military service. But is that really the whole story? The fourth part of this series looks at a new movement of young Druze women and men…

By Social TV December 12, 2014

Conscientious objector Udi Segal at the entrance of an IDF induction base. (Photo courtesy of ‘Refuseniks Against the Occupation’)

Israeli conscientious objector ends hunger strike citing abuse

Prison guards put Udi Segal in isolation and threatened him with trumped up charges, alleges the jailed conscientious objector now serving his fifth term in Israeli military prison. Israeli conscientious objector Udi Segal stopped his hunger strike over the weekend, citing what he described as abuse by guards in the Israeli army’s “Prison 6.” Segal…

By Haggai Matar November 3, 2014

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Udi Segal walks in the direction of the Draft Center in Haifa, where he will refuse to enlist.

WATCH: Israeli teen refuses to serve in army, likely to face jail time

Dozens of supporters, including past refusers, hold demonstration outside Haifa draft board office in solidarity with 19-year-old Udi Segal. By Moriel Rothman-Zecher and Yuval Orr For the past month, the news in Israel/Palestine has been filled with reports of more and more people killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians. As much of Israeli society…

By +972 Magazine July 28, 2014

Druze conscientious object Omar Sa'ad performs outside the Tiberias induction base. (photo: Activestills)

Druze conscientious objector Omar Sa’ad released from military service

Six months after he was sentenced to his first prison term for refusing to join the IDF, Druze conscientious objector Omar Sa’ad was released from military service on Wednesday. Sa’ad, an 18-year-old violist from the northern village Maghar, was sentenced to his first term on December 5th, 2013 in the Tiberias induction base. Since then, he…

By Edo Konrad June 19, 2014

Uriel Ferera walking out of military jail after serving his first sentence. (photo: Ruty Ferera)

IDF denied draft refuser letters, access to his lawyer

‘The sergeant told him that he cannot make a call because he is a military prisoner, and that he cannot use the phone because he didn’t wear his hat on time,’ Ferera’s lawyer says. By Daniel Beller Uriel Ferera, the young Orthodox conscientious objector who was sentenced to military jail for refusing to join the…

By +972 Magazine May 21, 2014

Omar Saad, a Palestinian-Druze conscious objector, talks before his family members and supporters, before he enters the Tiberias' induction base, where he will state his refusal to be drafted to the Israeli army, December 4, 2013. Over 100 family members, friends and activists protested on Wednesday morning to support Omar, who is expected to be sent to military prison. (Activestills.org)

Druze conscientious objector hospitalized with liver infection

Omar Sa’ad was hospitalized late last week after complaining for three straight days of chest pains. Attempts by military intelligence to transfer him to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital failed after both his family and medical staff protested the life-threatening decision. Omar Sa’ad, a Druze conscientious objector who is currently serving his seventh prison term for…

By Edo Konrad May 4, 2014

Omar Sa’ad enters the Tiberias induction base where he is likely to be sentenced to prison (Oren Ziv / Activestills)

WATCH: Druze draft refuser sentenced to 6th prison term

Omar Sa’ad, an 18-year-old Druze citizen of Israel, was sentenced a sixth, 20-day prison term last week for refusing to be drafted into the Israeli army as a conscientious objector. Before his sixth sentencing, Sa’ad had already served 100 days in the Israeli army’s “Prison 6.” Dozens of supporters gathered on a hillside overlooking the prison…

By Social TV March 31, 2014

Soldiers from the IDF's Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, which specializes in guerrilla warfare in southern Lebanon. (Illustrative photo: IDF Spokesperson/Flickr)

WATCH: Is the IDF the ‘great equalizer’ of Israeli society?

One of the foundational myths of the State of Israel is that regardless of one’s ethnic or socio-economic background, recruitment into the army was the way to create social mobility that would place everyone on an equal playing field. Today, minority groups such as Ethiopian, Bedouin and Druze continue trying to integrate into society through…

By Social TV January 13, 2014

Playing music and calling to free conscientious obkectors at Military Prison 6 (Haggai Matar)

Outside prison, protesters demand conscientious objectors be freed

Demonstrators play music and sing songs to inmates in ‘Military Prison 6’ in a show of support for Omar Sa’ad and other draft refusers. Similar vigils take place in cities across Israel, Palestine and abroad. About 100 Palestinian and Jewish protestors gathered on the hilltop overlooking Israel’s ‘Military Prison 6’ Saturday afternoon, calling for the…

By Haggai Matar January 4, 2014

Omar Sa’ad enters the Tiberias induction base where he is likely to be sentenced to prison (Oren Ziv / Activestills)

Druze youth likely headed to prison for conscientious objection

Omar Sa’ad reports to Israeli army induction base and announces his refusal to enlist. He is expected to be sentenced to prison. Sa’ad has declared his refusal to be ‘both nationally and conscientiously motivated.’ “I was raised first and foremost as a human being, and as such I feel that I cannot possibly aim an assault…

By Haggai Matar December 4, 2013

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Druze teen to Netanyahu: ‘I will not be a soldier in your army’

Omar Saad, a young Druze from the town of Maghar in northern Israel declared his refusal to serve in the IDF in late 2012. Although the Druze are considered to be an ethnic group that has assimilated well in the Israeli community, the voices of refusal within the community are becoming stronger. In an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,…

By Social TV March 6, 2013