Israeli law professors call out IDF on draft resister's 10th jail sentence

Thirty-six academic faculty members sent a letter Thursday to the Military Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni, criticizing the Israel Defense Forces’s repeated jailing of draft resister Natan Blanc. Blanc has been held in military prison for over 150 days for refusing to serve in the IDF because of his opposition to the occupation.

Blanc was sentenced earlier this week to a further 28 days in Military Prison 6. This was his tenth trial. He has been in military prison since reporting to the IDF Induction Center on November 19, 2012 − and declaring his refusal to serve in the military owing to Israel’s rule over the Palestinians.

The faculty members, including professors and lecturers from law faculties, criticize the policy of jailing conscientious objectors, as well as relating to Blanc’s case specifically. “The refusal of a person to serve in the IDF because such service requires him to act in a manner that according to his outlook deeply damages fundamental moral views, is the realization of the right of freedom of conscience. Punishment harms this right and is allowed only if it meets the requirement of proportionality,” states the letter to the MAG.

Among the signatories to the letter are Prof. Yuval Shany, dean of the law faculty at Hebrew University and a member of the UN Human Rights Committee; Prof. Menachem Mautner of Tel Aviv University; Prof. Yossi Dahan of the Adva Center; and Prof. Barak Medina, former dean of the law faculty at Hebrew University.

The IDF Spokesman said: “The letter was received today in the office of the MAG, and it will be examined and will be answered in its own right and answered directly to the sender, and not through the media.”

Original Article
Source: haaretz.com
Author: Gili Cohen