Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, May 19, 2013

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 

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