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A 21-year-old Jewish anti-Zionist who fled Israel in 2017 is defending his asylum application in the UK.
The hearing is scheduled to be held in Manchester’s first-level court on September 20 and will resolve his appeal against the British Home Office’s refusal in December last year.
The rabbi student was granted an anonymous order by the court for security issues. His lawyer believed that if he returned to Israel, his personal views, including his refusal to join the Israeli army, would expose him to persecution.
His lawyer said that he may “be regarded as a deserter and may face up to 15 years in prison”. [military] Abandoned”.
The student stated that for religious and political reasons, he strongly opposed the existence of Zionism and Israel-views that are generally not welcomed by the authorities or the wider Zionist Israeli public.
Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews believe that they should not be allowed to return to Palestinian land collectively before the arrival of the Messiah.
“What the Zionist movement did is sinful because it sent Jews back to the Holy Land against God’s will, and in the process forced the indigenous Palestinian people to displace and steal their land,” he said in his testimony , The testimony will be used as evidence for the court’s decision.
“The Zionists established their Zionist state through theft and mass murder. They betrayed God in the most serious way. I was afraid of being drafted into the army by force, which would go against everything I represent…Israel The country practices apartheid and is often involved in war crimes against the Palestinian people. I cannot serve in such an immoral army and commit such atrocities every day.”
In 2015, the 17-year-old was arrested and beaten by Israeli police during a protest against forced conscription in the Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem.
According to his lawyer, during the protest and while in police custody, the teenager “was handcuffed, pushed to the ground, dragged away by the handcuffs, spit at him, and beaten with a stick.”
He was also sprayed with skunk water, a malodorous compound made by the Israeli military to control crowds.
His lawyer added that he traveled to the UK on a tourist visa in 2017 after receiving the draft letter and has not returned since.
Create a precedent
The Ministry of the Interior rejected his initial asylum application on the grounds that he could have avoided military service for mental reasons.
But his lawyer argued that the appeal must be viewed within a political framework, “If the issue of apartheid is not resolved, it is impossible to properly consider the case of our client. Apartheid is codified in the 2002 Rome Statute and the international prohibition and crimes of apartheid. punish”.
His lawyer Fahad Ansari told Al Jazeera that the court must hear the case “within the framework of Israel as an apartheid country” rather than “in a vacuum.”
“It would be unreasonable if they said he should be deported and forced to serve in the apartheid army,” Ansari said, then added that “protesting against Zionism is vital to his Jewish identity and political views. “So that he might be persecuted by the authorities again.
conscription
According to the law, Israel requires its citizens to perform military service at the age of 18.
Men must serve for less than three years, while women must serve for two years.
You can exempt you from joining the army for specific reasons—citing mental health issues or pacifism that claims to be unrelated to politics.
Those who publicly expressed their opposition to the occupation as a reason will be sentenced to multiple imprisonment until they are declared unfit for service by the Israeli army.
Although Palestinians and most Orthodox Jews are exempt, in the past few years, because the secular majority in Israel believes that the community should be drafted, there have been fierce debates and conflicts with the local police on the issue of Haredi conscription.
In September 2017, the Israeli High Court repealed the law that exempted ultra-Orthodox Jews from service while studying at the Jewish educational institution yeshivas, saying that the law would take effect within one year.
In August 2021, the government proposed a compromise plan around this issue, allowing 21-year-old seminary students to be completely exempted, but the age will increase later, and they will still be required to perform civic duties and two years of reserve service.
The plan still needs to be discussed and approved by Parliament.
Mass arrest
The Israeli police often hunt down people in the Orthodox community who evade military service and try to enlist them.
According to reports, the police often used force against them during anti-conscription protests, carried out large-scale arrest raids on their homes, and were often abused during detention.
Describing the state’s attitude towards the Orthodox community—especially during protests—sahar Vardi, a military denier and rights activist, said: “Compared to Jews, this is the most violent police response we have seen.”
Vardy told Al Jazeera that many people in the Orthodox community took a “non-cooperative” approach with the state instead of asking for exemptions.
“They completely ignored the army and became deserters (people who have been absent for more than 21 days),” Vardy said.
“The standard is that they will be sentenced half the time they leave.” He added that they were held in military prisons where soldiers were held.
British lawyer Ansari said, “Expert evidence confirms that [his client] Will not be regarded as an exemption, but as a deserter, because he did not report and left the country. “
Since this student did not participate in the normal military recruitment process, his lawyer believes that even if he is eligible for an exemption, he will be arrested after returning home.
Ansari said, however, a positive ruling may set a precedent for future asylum applications, not only for Israeli Jews, but also for Palestinians.
“This will help Palestinian asylum seekers to structure their cases in a more accurate way in the future, looking at their pain in the context of Israeli apartheid,” he said.
“It’s time for the British judiciary to investigate Israeli apartheid; considering all the evidence, it is difficult for them to avoid.”
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