-Caveat Lector-
AP International
8/1/01
Netanyahu's Nephew Makes Appeal
by MARK LAVIE
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A nephew of ex-Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, a hard-line politician with a
military background, has appealed to Israel's Supreme
Court for conscientious objector status.
Yonatan Ben-Artzi, a teen-ager facing the draft like all
Israeli 18-year-olds, told Israel television Wednesday
that he is opposed to all armies, ''and I don't want to be a
part of a violent organization like an army.'' Ben-Artzi's
father is a brother of Netanyahu's wife Sara.
Netanyahu, who served in the elite commando unit called
Sayeret Matkal during his army years, has been calling
for stiff military measures against the Palestinians in
response to 10 months of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.
Netanyahu's older brother, Yonatan, was a commander of
a 1976 Sayeret Matkal mission to rescue passengers from
a hijacked airliner in Entebbe, Uganda. Yonatan
Netanyahu was the only Israeli killed in the operation.
All Israeli 18-year-olds are liable for compulsory
military service. Men serve a minimum of three years and
women 21 months. Then most men are required to do
yearly reserve duty, some into their late 40s. However,
Ultra-Orthodox rabbinical students have always received
draft exemptions.
While there are only 17 conscientious objectors in Israel,
the overall phenomenon of skipping army service is
growing, though it was all but unheard of a generation
ago among mainstream Israelis.
Army figures show that 22 percent of the current class of
18-year-old Israelis are not serving. About 8.5 percent
have religious exemptions, while the others have medical
and other deferments. However, it is no longer
impossible for a draftee to persuade army recruiters to
respect his desire not to serve, a step that would have
resulted in social ostracism even a decade ago.
Ben-Artzi said neither Netanyahu nor his wife had talked
to him about his decision to try for conscientious objector
status. He said that was not important. ''I think it's
important to send a message to the other 6 million
citizens, besides him, that they should be open to this
option,'' he said.
Asked what would happen if all Israelis adopted his
views and the army ceased to exist, Ben-Artzi said that in
the modern age of ''CNN and the Internet,'' Arab armies
would not attack Israel.
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