In Israel and within the army, there are some who are against the occupation and repression policies of the Tel Aviv administration against the Palestinians. One of them is Yonatan Shapira, who resigned from the army in 2003.
Shapira not only resigned, but also launched a campaign that encouraged other military members to resign, considering their situation. As a result of this campaign he conducted with his friends, 27 more pilots in the Israeli army have resigned from the air force since 2003.
After resigning, Shapira was fired from all the jobs he found for participating in demonstrations to support the rights of Palestinians and drawing attention to the "war crimes" committed by the Israeli army by holding international conferences, so he had to move to Norway and continue his life there.
Shapira explained to the AA reporter why he joined the Israeli army and how he understood that he was "a part of a terrorist organization" in his own words by changing his views, and said that the number of people who think like him in Israel does not exceed a few thousand and that a society is prevented from seeing the facts by being passed through a "brainwashing machine".
"Israel is dragging the whole region into disaster"
Stating that he joined the Israeli army as a pilot in 1993, Shapira stated that "his eyes were slowly widening" during the Second Intifada.
"The Israeli army is a terrorist organization, its commanders are war criminals. The Israeli government is a Jewish racist government and is dragging the whole region into disaster. I believe this and many people actually understand that it is, but not everyone wants to say it. This is a fact and I have to say it. As a former pilot and captain in the Israeli army, it is my duty to say this, because of the situation we are in, I call the world that we have to protect the Palestinians because they are being murdered, they are killing for ethnic reasons.
No good comes from Israeli leaders. Don't expect anything. Even from left-wing Israelis like me, because we are too few, we do not have enough to change the course of events. We need outside intervention. We need a lot of pressure. We need all possible pressure to stop this catastrophe. "
"This occupation is a war crime on a continuing war crime. We do not want to continue to be a part of this war crime," Shapira, along with his friends who resigned from the military, told the Israeli people, the government, the prime minister and the rest of the world. He noted that they wanted to give his message.
Shapira, who also criticized the Israeli media and education system, said that people were brainwashed and prevented from seeing the truth.
"Children in Israel are brought up in a highly Zionist military education system." Shapira said:
"We know nothing about Palestine, we don't know anything about the Nekbe (the Great Catastrophe in which the Palestinians were exiled from their homeland in 1948). You think that you will protect your people and your country while joining the army because of your training. One of the things was that the air force I served was committing mass murders of civilians. They were sent to drop bombs on the centers of Palestinian towns. At one point I realized that it was an act of terrorism. "
Emphasizing that his aim was to protect people while joining the army, the former Israeli soldier said, "If I want to protect people as I want to join the military, I should be on the other side (next to the Palestinians) instead of being here (in the army) and following orders. we had to say no and bear the consequences. " used the expressions.
Stating that he was fortunate that he was not jailed despite leaving the army in this way, Shapira said, "Afterwards, I was detained and imprisoned because I participated in the protests with Palestinians in the West Bank many times and was involved in the fleets that set out to break the Gaza blockade. and I still used my privilege of being free to convey the message I am giving now. " he spoke.
"I was fired from all my jobs in Israel because I supported the Palestinians and gave lectures around the world," said Shapira.
"I was fired because I called Israel an apartheid state and my government and army commanders called me war criminals. I can still go to Israel, but I couldn't find a job there. That's why I live outside in Norway."
Israeli society increasingly radicalized
Noting that the entire Israeli society has shifted to the right in the last 20 years, Shapira noted that when he published the "pilot's letter" in which he shared his thoughts with his friends when he resigned from the army, 20% of the society regarded them with tolerance, but today this rate will not exceed 5%.
"The brainwashing process of the media, the government and the army is very violent. People are being subjected to a very powerful brainwashing machine. If we were a minority in the past, we are a minority of the minority today," Shapira said. expressed his opinion.
However, Shapira stated that those who think like him are the most intellectuals and scientists of this country, adding that while these intellectuals should rule the country under normal conditions, now "Jewish elitist" (racist) people such as "White elitist" (racist) people in the USA are ruling.
- Recent Israeli attacks on Palestine
A total of 192 Palestinians, including 58 children and 34 women, have been killed and 1,235 more injured since Israel started airstrikes on Gaza on May 10.
On Saturday night, another crime was committed by the Israeli warplanes when they struck a home in the al-Shati refugees camp, northwest Gaza. The air raid left two mothers and eight children dead while they were sleeping at home.
The recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups there vowed to retaliate against Israeli assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah if they were not halted.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
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