On February 25, Sofi Orr, an 18-year-old woman called up by the Israeli army for military service, arrived at the Tel-HaShomer base in Kiryat Ono, a few kilometers from Tel Aviv. Outside the gate, a group of Haredi men – ultra-Orthodox Jews – waited patiently before entering the building. They left with their letters of exemption from military service. The young woman, on the other hand, was sentenced to 20 days in prison.

Orr is a refusenik, a conscientious objector who publicly refuses to enlist in the Israeli army for military service. She is a rarity in a country where the vast majority of young people who have just come of age are called up every year, with the notable exception of Israeli Palestinians (20% of the population) and the Haredim (around 10%), who are legally exempt so they can focus on religious studies.

Lasting 32 months for men and 24 months for women, conscription is at the heart of Israeli culture. The military is as much a rite of passage for young people leaving secondary school as it is the social contract that is supposed to bind Israel to its population, particularly its Jewish population. As such, the question of which army corps one has served in is often one of the first asked by recruiters when entering the job market.

"Israeli society is deeply militaristic," said Orr, who spoke with Le Monde a few weeks before she was called up. "We're brought up from a very young age to see ourselves as a small country surrounded by enemies, constantly on the defensive. Being a soldier is seen as an honor, even more so today. But I refuse to serve in an army of occupation and legitimize that system," she said. "Nor will I be a cog in this new cycle of carnage," she added, alluding to the war waged for the past five months in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

'My grandmother cried over it'

Like Orr, there are fewer than half a dozen each year who publicly refuse to enlist, facing a prison sentence that varies according to the military officer passing sentence. Tal Mitnick, 18, who became the first refusenik since October 7, was sentenced to an initial 30 days in prison when he reported for conscription in December 2023. His sentence was extended by a month on his release in January, when he persisted in his refusal to enlist in the army. Called up on his release, he was again sentenced on February 27, this time to 45 days in detention.

It's a process that Nave Shabtay Levin, 20, knows all too well. Barefoot in his sandals, Shabtay Levin has spent six stints in prison for a total of 115 days, before being exempted from service in March 2023. For this son of a soldier, announcing his decision was not easy. "My father always told me that I wouldn't be part of the family if I didn't become a soldier," he said from the terrace of a building in downtown Tel Aviv. "When I was a kid, he used to take me to his base every weekend. I was fascinated; I'd come back with my pockets full of bullet casings."

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