A FORMER OFFICER from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has said he couldn’t continue to serve in the military because of the “dehumanisation” of Palestinians he witnessed in Gaza.
Michael Ofer-Ziv (29) is one of 130 IDF members who this month sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, refusing to serve unless the government works to obtain a hostage and ceasefire deal.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Around 100 of the captives are still held in Gaza, many of whom are believed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mainly women and children, and wounded tens of thousands, according to local health authorities.
National military service is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over 18. Michael previously served in the IDF a few years ago – during a less volatile period – in areas such as the occupied West Bank, which is separate to Gaza but also a Palestinian territory.
He was an active reservist when the 7 October attack happened in Israel last year, and was required by law to enlist again. A self-described “lefty”, he told The Journal he faced “a dilemma”.
Michael said that in the immediate aftermath of the attack, he felt compelled to help the IDF re-establish the border between Israel and Gaza, and to keep Israeli civilians safe.
So, he re-enlisted. He understands some people believe he made the wrong decision. A year on, he agrees.
But he thought, and still thinks, a “short-term” military operation was needed to “push back on Hamas” in a bid to negotiate the release of hostages.
“I thought that some sort of military pressure would create a reality in which we can come to a deal with Hamas.”
Michael said, on one level, he thought it would be good for him to be part of the military operation. He went to school with Arabs and has friends who are Palestinian.
For him, it has never been ‘us and them’ between Israel and Palestine.
Describing his thought process before re-enlisting last October, he said:
Maybe it’s even better that it will be me because I’m compassionate towards Palestinians. I don’t see ‘the sides’ the way a lot of other people see it.
However, he said it quickly became apparent that the goals of the Israeli government and the IDF were not solely to rescue the hostages and prevent another attack from happening.
He said a “discourse of retaliation, of revenge” was already “very apparent” by 9 and 10 October last.
He noted that in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack, prominent members of the Israeli government made comments about “annihilating Gaza, destroying Gaza”, adding “that was very, very scary”.
Michael said the “tipping point” for him came in December when three Israeli hostages – Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer El-Talalqa – were killed by Israeli forces when escaping Hamas in Gaza.
After they were killed, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the men were “mistakenly identified… as a threat”, adding: “The IDF expresses deep sorrow regarding this disaster and shares in the grief of the families.”
Speaking to The Journal, Michael recalled: “They were holding a white flag, screaming for help in Hebrew, and yet they were shot.” He said this was the “last straw” and he knew he could no longer serve.
Michael was given a routine break from service last December and never returned, despite being asked to go back in June.
He and the 129 others who signed the aforementioned letter refusing to serve were recently suspended from the IDF. They may be taken to court in the future.
Despite the threat of this, he said: “I cannot consciously do it, it weighs on me too much… I would rather go to jail.”
Michael said there is no “justification” for killing civilians – Israelis or Palestinians. He was deeply affected by what happened on 7 October – he knew some of the people killed by Hamas.
He said, when analysing what happened, people must consider the history of the region.
Michael said Israel has to accept partial responsibility for what happened on 7 October because they created such harsh conditions in Gaza and the West Bank.
“The seventh is partly our doing, right?
We brought the seventh on ourselves. Of course, Hamas did it. Hamas did it 100%, they own 100% responsibility for the choice that they made. But we also brought this.
“We brought the situation in Gaza to a point where enough people felt like this was their only solution or they were willing to do this and to dehumanise us, as they were.”
Michael said many Gazans “hate us for obvious reasons”, and that people who are desperate are more likely to join a group like Hamas.
“If you have nothing to lose, you don’t mind dying fighting for your family.”
During his previous periods of service, Michael said there were always “rules of engagement” – a code of conduct by which soldiers were expected to operate. In his experience, this is not the case post-7 October.
He said, in his brigade, there was never “a situation where we deliberately targeted civilians”. However, if a civilian was killed – either accidentally or on purpose – he got the sense that nobody would be reprimanded.
No one would lift a finger. So the soldiers on the ground think that they don’t have to answer to anybody.
Michael said some people serving in the IDF have “blood lust and blood thirst”, and “want to see as many Palestinians dead as possible”.
He noted that many of those currently serving in the IDF “were not soldiers on the seventh, they were concerned and afraid citizens sitting in their homes… and a lot of them lost people, dear ones, during the October attack”.
“So how compromised is their own judgment when looking at Palestinians and Gazans? That is the reality that creates this carelessness or disregard of Palestinian lives.”
Michael said there is no justification for killing civilians, especially children. However, not everyone agrees with him.
Referencing a period of violence that occurred in Gaza a decade ago – where over 2,000 people were killed in 50 days – he said someone he served with told him:
‘The kids that we spared in 2014 grew up to be the terrorists of October the seventh’. You can understand what he’s saying from that, right?”
Like many others, Michael said he watched in horror while footage circulated earlier this month showing people being burnt alive at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital grounds in Gaza.
On 14 October, a large explosion lit up the tented encampment while most people were asleep. The hospital, one of three that are still partly operational in the besieged Palestinian territory, is located in the central Gazan city of Dar Al-Balah.
The Gaza health ministry said it was the seventh time this year that Israel has attacked the hospital.
“There is no justification to kill any civilian ever… Seeing those things, it’s horrifying, it’s disgusting,” Michael said.
He noted that it will ultimately be up to institutions like the International Criminal Court to decide if what is happening in Gaza is a genocide or if war crimes have been committed.
Regardless of what you call it, what is happening in Gaza is 100% something that is deeply immoral, deeply problematic, and should be stopped.
Michael believes the unwavering support, militarily and otherwise, by the United States in particular is enabling Israel to do whatever it wants.
The US has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion (about €16.6 billion) on military aid to Israel in the last year. The US has also vetoed a number of United Nations security council votes on Palestine, including blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
“Guilt is the most reliable resource in the world,” Michael said, referring to the fact many western nations unequivocally support Israel because of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, declared independence in May 1948 – after millions of Jewish people were murdered during World War II while the Nazis were in power.
Michael said it’s “horrible” when some people invoke the Holocaust as a reason to justify the killing of tens of thousands of people in Gaza.
He said it’s often true that people who were traumatised “inflict that trauma on others”.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing. It cannot justify it, but it definitely can explain it – exactly like we can explain the seventh by the exact same mechanism.”
Michael called on the international community to implement sanctions on Israel, noting that a similar approach helped end apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s.
He believes a two-state solution – where Israel and Palestine live side by side as two separate nations where all civilians have equal rights – is the “only” way forward.
He said the peace process in Northern Ireland is “one of the biggest points of hope”, noting that after many years of “armed resistance and violent occupation”, eventually people decided “to sit and talk and actually come to an agreement”.
Michael said the situation in the North “might not be perfect” but, for many people in Israel and Palestine, it “can be this beacon of hope”.
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