An Israeli high-school student is facing possible disciplinary action after distributing flyers urging classmates to refuse military service over Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank, according to a report published by Haaretz.
The student, an 11th-grader at Ohel Shem High School in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, was summoned to a disciplinary meeting and told she could face suspension beginning next school year, the newspaper reported.
According to the report, the student and two other teenagers who are not enrolled in the school distributed leaflets entitled “We Hereby Refuse” outside the campus.
The flyers called on students eligible for military service to sign a letter pledging not to enlist in the Israeli army for the war crimes it committed in the occupied Palestinian territories since October 2023.
“We, teenagers slated for conscription in the Israeli Army, hereby refuse to take part in its crimes and to serve the dictatorial government’s interests,” the leaflet stated.
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Organisers said about 130 students had signed the letter.
The drive was organised by Mesarvot, an organisation that supports young Israelis who refuse military service.
The group said that the Israeli education system is suffering from a militaristic worldview, which is bestowed onto its students.
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“The schools prepare us for the army by embedding militaristic discourse,” the letter said, adding that “the truth is that the army is not a preordained fate – no one is born a soldier.”
It said that despite the ceasefire, “genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes continue” and said that Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank are carrying out “a policy of ethnic cleansing”.
“We refuse to take part in moral wrongdoings,” the letter said, adding that participants were refusing to “collaborate with a fascist government” and “continue the cycle of bloodshed”.
The student said that the principal of Ohel Shem, Israel Vilozny, told her during a meeting that distributing material on education or environmental issues would have been viewed as “less severe”.
The student’s parents accused the school of selective enforcement and political persecution.
‘A sacred value’
Vilozny reportedly said that the student violated the school rules when she distributed such flyers on school premises.
The Ramat Gan municipality, which oversees the school, backed the principal’s actions and described military service as “a sacred value”.
While saying it supports open dialogue in schools, the municipality said political materials cannot be distributed without prior approval from school administrators.
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“Tomorrow another student could show up with two Kahanists to spread racist poison,” the municipality warned, comparing a call to refuse to serve in the Israeli army to supporting a Jewish “terrorist organisation”.
The municipality also warned against unauthorised political activity in schools and said it sought to prevent situations in which students could “promote propaganda in support of International Court of Justice rulings in The Hague”.
While Israeli media has reported about the rising influence of settlers and Zionists within the Israeli army, military service remains a central institution in Israeli society, particularly in cities such as Ramat Gan.
According to Israeli military data published in February, 84 percent of eligible males from Ramat Gan enlisted in the armed forces, with 38 percent serving in combat roles.
At Ohel Shem High School, enlistment rates were even higher, with 93 percent of eligible male students joining the military and 47 percent serving in combat units, according to the data.
As Gaza’s destruction continues, Israeli media have reported an alarming rise in anti-Palestinian sentiment among young Israelis.
A Haaretz report published earlier this month found that more than one-third of students in secular schools believe Israel’s Palestinian citizens do not deserve to be part of Israeli society.
