Court frees IDF refusenik, delays ruling on military tribunal: DEBUNK YOUR MYTHS

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that an IDF officer be released from military jail despite completing only 13 days of a 35-day sentence for refusing to serve in the territories.

The move came after justices Aharon Barak, Dorit Beinisch and Ayala Procaccia decided to postpone a ruling on Zonshein's appeal to stand trial before a military tribunal.

First Lieutenant David Zonshein, 29, co-founder of the Courage to Refuse group, was jailed June 13 after he disobeyed a call-up notice ordering him to serve in the territories. He was given a brief disciplinary hearing by his commanding officer, without any legal counsel, and then sentenced.

"The problem is not at all simple," said Supreme Court President Barak after the hearing. "The court needs time to think before passing judgement."

Zonshein wants a full-scale court martial, held in public, with his own lawyer and the right to call witnesses, in order to publicize the issue of IDF reserve officers who are opposed to serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The case will be David Zonshein against the occupation," said the group's attorney, Michael Sfarad, adding that he expected a ruling in a matter of weeks.

"For the time being, they decided to release him from prison, which is something about which we are very, very happy," Sfarad said.

The court decision to release Zonshein, was received by cheers and applause from the crowd, which included a number of left-wing activists.

State attorney Yuval Roitman, representing the IDF, argued that Zonshein's offence - refusing to obey an order - was of a disciplinary nature, not criminal. "He undermined military discipline and disciplinary hearings that exist for that purpose," he said.

Roitman rejected Sfarad's request that the trial be transferred to a military tribunal on the grounds that the IDF officer who judged Zonshein at the disciplinary hearing was not a jurist capable of hearing a case dealing with judicial arguments.

The state attorney said that officers who are not jurists also sit on the panel in a military tribunal.

Referring to Zonshein's claim that he refused to serve in the territories out of moral considerations, Roitman said, "Zonshein was not asked to carry out an assassination policy but rather to perform reserve duty in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]."

Sfarad said that Zonshein's case was unusual as he did not disobey a direct order from his commanding officer but rather refused to follow the army's orders.

He argued that the court should really issue a ruling on whether a democratic state should grant its citizens the right to voice their arguments in a judicial framework especially when they are facing a potential jail sentence.

He said that according to Supreme Court regulations, the verdict handed down in the disciplinary hearing was invalid, as it was not accompanied by any explanation of the decision. Zonshein also did not receive a response to any of the arguments he raised during the hearing, he said.

The Courage to Refuse movement started out in January as a letter signed by 35 reserve soldiers declaring they would not serve in the West Bank and Gaza because they believed the Israeli occupation was illegitimate and its military actions immoral.

"We say that the entire occupation constitutes an illegal order," said Amit Mashiach, a spokesman for the group.

The group stresses that its members are ready to serve in defense of Israel as long as it is not in the Palestinian territories. Opponents accuse the group of attempting to undermine soldiers' morale, and say no army can allow soldiers to choose where they will and won't serve.

Mashiach said so far 88 group members had disobeyed call-up notices and been summoned to disciplinary hearings in front of their commanding officers.

"All of them received the maximum sentence of 35 days, after a 10-minute hearing," he said.

Last week you had a caller "Ricky" who said that there were 2000 refuseniks from the reserves. I can't find any numbers to support anywhere near that number.

These guys sound alarmingly similar to militant Palistinian Propagandists. They are protesting the "occupation" of Palistinian territory by the military, but this is a misnomer since troops had to be called-up in order to be REDEPLOYED in these territories, which by deffinition implies re-entry not occupation. I think they try to mask thier cowardice with fashionable left-wing ideology of conscionable objector.

What was the film made a few years back about moral questions raised by the Israeli operations in Lebanon? I recall it was required viewing for all IDF conscripts, but recall too that it was becoming a bit of a political football as well, being kicked around by a number of players.

Anyone recall the film I mean?

-archy-/-

The Barak Supreme Court is abetting and aiding treason in the military. This decision comes as no surprise.

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