We look at photographs of wartime executions and tell ourselves we know who the monsters were. That is the comfort of hindsight. The harder question is what we demand of an individual before history has decided which orders should never have been followed. When a state commands you to take part in something you believe is wrong, obedience may cost other people their lives. Refusal can cost you your freedom.
In March 2023, the Israeli military detained 20-year-old Yuval Dag for refusing compulsory military service. After his release, he refused again and was jailed again. Amnesty International called him a prisoner of conscience. Tonight, November 10, at 18:00, he is speaking at kpBUNT in Bratislava about a practical proposal developed with the Israeli organisation Zochrot for Palestinian refugees from Gaza to return to their historical homeland. Whatever one thinks of that proposal, his refusal was not a slogan. It came with a prison sentence.
We teach children to admire people who refused to obey criminal regimes, then treat living dissenters as traitors while the machinery is still running. It is easy to praise moral courage once it has become history. I would rather listen to someone who paid for it while the decision was still his to make. Written in a taxi on the way to listen to an Israeli who refused to serve in the IDF and went to jail for his moral conviction.
