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.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of