An Israeli army reservist has been sentenced to a fortnight in solitary confinement for refusing to participate in the ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip, an advocacy group said on Monday.
The army denied the claim, saying there was never any question of sending the man to Gaza, although it confirmed he was handed a one-week jail term.
The 35-year-old, who was not named, disobeyed a call-up order to protest the deaths of Palestinian civilians killed since the Dec. 27 start of Israel’s war on Hamas, according Ometz Lesarev — Hebrew for “Courage to Refuse.”
He would be the first soldier sentenced to solitary confinement for refusing to serve since the start of the offensive, which has so far left more than 900 Palestinians dead.
Ometz Lesarev said he was one of three reservists who had contacted the organization for advice after refusing to serve in Gaza. The other two had reached an amicable agreement with their commander not to take part in combat.
An army spokesman said: “He was not a combat soldier and would have never been sent to Gaza. He refused to go on a professional course for personal reasons, and then this whole thing got completely blown out of proportion.”
The spokesman said the man had been sentenced to a week in jail for being absent without leave, but did not know if it was in solitary confinement.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in