Tal Mitnick: Israeli man jailed for refusing to serve in military says he is prepared to go to prison again
An 18-year-old Israeli man, who was jailed for refusing to serve in the Israeli military, has told Sky News he is prepared to go to prison again.
Tal Mitnick says this is because, in his opinion, the war in Gaza is not the way to achieve peace with Palestinians.
Mr Mitnick is the first Israeli to be jailed as a conscientious objector in this war. He was released from an Israeli military prison on Friday after serving 30 days, said he has been labelled a traitor, but is sticking to his pacifist beliefs.
Speaking from near his home in Tel Aviv, he explained: “I think that the way the government and the regime are trying to frame this is that the objective of the war is to eliminate Hamas and to bring back the hostages.
“I feel like both of these objectives can’t be achieved with more and more fighting because like we saw, the way that we brought back the hostages at the end of the day was a deal where we exchanged prisoners for hostages.
“And the more and more fighting we see, that kills hostages, for example, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] killed three hostages a couple of weeks ago because they thought that they were Palestinian. And the second objective of eliminating Hamas also will not be achieved with fighting.”
More than 130 hostages are thought to still be in Gaza and negotiations to free them have been moving slowly.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under increased pressure to agree a new deal with Hamas, via mediators; relatives of hostages have pitched tents outside his residence in Jerusalem.
Describing conditions inside jail, Mr Mitnick said the prisoners are treated as soldiers.
“You wake up early, you always clean your cell, you have to stand still for long periods of time, and other people there are actual soldiers, most people have served and a lot of them are deserters of their position,” he said.
“Right now we’re seeing a real change in the sentencing to deserters of people’s position. People that deserted for three months, for example, to go and help their family or go take care of their siblings are being sentenced to six months in military prison.”
Read more:
Relatives of Israeli hostages storm parliament
Navy Seals declared dead after raid on boat ‘carrying weapons to Houthis’
West is now embroiled in widening Middle East conflict – is it winnable?
Israeli soldiers operate in Gaza. Pic: Israel Defence Forces
IDF calls on him to report for duty
Mr Mitnick received a call from the IDF as we were speaking, instructing him to report for duty on Tuesday morning. He told us he would attend and refuse again.
“They think that sentencing me for 30 days will somehow make me feel threatened, but I don’t feel threatened. I stay with my beliefs, and I’ll refuse to serve once again,” he said.
“On Tuesday afternoon or evening. I’ll be sent back to prison for another sentence.
“I think to myself that I’ve gone through 30 [days].
“I can take another 30 and I can take another 30 after that because I know that a lot of people support me and that I’m succeeding in making a change and showing the world that there’s another way and that we can choose nonviolence over violence.
“I think that for 70 years we’ve been seeing the same policy of occupation, of siege and of Jewish supremacy between the river and the sea, and I can’t take part in it.
“The war has only strengthened my opinion. I feel like we need to stop the cycle of violence. Somehow it’s going to stop and I believe that every person should work to stop the violence from their own position.”
Israeli soldiers fire a mortar on the border of Gaza
Smoke rises in the distance during an Israeli ground operation in Khan Younis
‘Not wanting to serve is not a mental problem’
Mr Mitnick was not due to serve on the frontline. Instead, he had been earmarked for a position in military intelligence.
But he said he is a conscientious objector and doesn’t believe he should be punished for refusing to fight.
“I feel like not wanting to serve is not a mental problem and it shouldn’t be seen as such,” he said.
“I want to show that I don’t want to serve because of my beliefs and because of my values, and that is not a mental problem.”
Mesarvot, a group whose name means “objectors”, say it has dozens of supporters but the exact number of conscientious objectors like Mr Mitnick is not clear because many have not gone public or have not received letters of enlistment during this conflict.
When approached by Sky News, the IDF said they had no comment to add to the story.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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