This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman.

As we continue our conversation with Hagaimatar, Israeli journalist, activist, executive director of 972 magazine,

former conscientious objector who refused to serve in the Israeli army. You just wrote a piece in the

Nation magazine. That's the gist of the headline is, are we doing enough to deal with what's

happening right now in Gaza? There was a piece that Orrin Ziv wrote in 972, your publication,

Just Out, We Must use every tool to resist Israeli

teens jailed for refusing military service. You're a conscientious objector yourself. Talk about

your own decision when you made it and the state of the movement of conscientious objectors today

in Israel?

Sure.

So I refused a very, very long time ago, actually together with my colleague, Orange

Eve, in 2002.

I had spent two years in prison back then for refusing the draft.

That is quite unusual.

Most teens that refused the draft would go to prison for about three to four months.

That is what is likely expected with the recent refusers.

How old are you?

At the time, I was 18.

Why two years?

Well, we're talking about the height of the second intifada.

There was a spike in refusal usually. Unfortunately, we're talking about the height of the second intifada. There was a spike in refusal.

Usually, unfortunately, we only have one to say four kids at a time that refuse and go to prison.

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