When Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, reservist Yotam Vilk wasn’t called up for military service – he volunteered to go and fight. Since then, he has spent more than 230 days serving with the Israeli military in Gaza.
It has affected every part of his life. And now, he is refusing to serve again.
“On October 7, I didn’t hesitate… because my people were murdered and killed and I understood that there was a need to save them, and there is still a need to save them, which the Israeli government doesn’t seem to see as urgent,” he told CNN in a phone interview.
After completing his second round of reserve duty in Gaza this summer, he decided he would refuse to go back if he were asked. He believed military action was justified in some cases, but that it should only be used as a tool to reach diplomatic solutions that work towards peace.
He didn’t believe in the government’s will to achieve that, despite “the destruction in Gaza getting harder, the lives of Palestinians getting harder and the lives of Israeli hostages getting harder.”
On October 9, Vilk, along with more than 130 other Israeli reservists, signed an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stating that they refuse to serve unless a deal is signed to end the war and bring back the 101 hostages still in Gaza.
‘For some of us, the red line has already been crossed, and for others, it is rapidly approaching: the day when, with broken hearts, we will stop reporting for service,’ the letter read.
Vilk’s “red line” had been crossed, but it wasn’t an easy decision to make.
On the one hand, by refusing to serve, he felt he would be abandoning the hostages and leaving Hamas in charge in Gaza, something he believes makes Palestinians’ lives worse.
On the other, by not refusing, he feared he’d be serving in a war that would end in another Israeli occupation of Gaza, of which he didn’t want to be a part.
Despite Netanyahu stating there would be no resettlement in Gaza, Vilk said the government’s support for the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank made him doubtful of his intentions. Netanyahu’s cabinet includes far-right ministers who have called for Israeli settlements in Gaza.
“They put me in a horrible position… I feel betrayed by my own government,” he said.
