For Israeli military paramedic Yuval Green, it was the command to burn down a house that made him decide to end his reserve duty.
Green had spent 50 days in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis earlier this year with his paratrooper unit, sleeping in a home lit only by battery-powered fairy lights among the rubble and devastation.
He had begun to have doubts about the unit’s purpose there months earlier when he heard about Israel’s refusal to agree to Hamas’s demands to end the war, along with freeing hostages.
Green is one of three Israeli reservists who told the Observer they will not return if called for military service in Gaza. All three previously undertook compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which forms the backbone of society.
As maddening as this is, imagine the ENORMOUS propaganda and social pressure that these soldiers are fighting against. They’ve been told countless times that they’re defending both their religion and their homeland (and, by extension, their friends and family). For most of us, those are some of our biggest drivers. Honestly, I’m not sure that I would have the strength to maintain free will under those circumstances. We all like to think we’re incorruptible, but we’re not.
Judging from the outside is easy. Actually living through it is something else.