The majority of those defying enlistment orders appear to be what’s known as “gray refusers” — people who have no real ideological objection to the war but rather have grown demoralized, weary, or fed up that it is dragging on for so long. Alongside them are a small but growing minority of reservists who refuse on ethical grounds.

According to Menuchin, Yesh Gvul has been in contact with over 150 ideological refusers since October 2023, while New Profile, another organization supporting refuseniks, has dealt with several hundred such cases. But whereas teenagers who refuse the compulsory draft for ideological reasons are subject to prison sentences of several months, Menuchin is aware of only one reservist who was punished for their recent refusal — receiving a sentence of two weeks of probation.

“They’re afraid to put refusers in prison, because if they do, it could bury the model of the ‘people’s army,’” he explained. “The government understands this, and therefore it doesn’t push too hard; it suffices with the army dismissing a few reservists, as if that will solve the problem.”

[…]

Menuchin also attributes significant weight to economic factors, but offers an additional explanation: “Israelis don’t want to feel like suckers, and they’re now reaching a point where they feel they’re being exploited. They see others getting exemptions, and they wager that if something happens to them, no one will support them or their families. There’s a feeling of abandonment: they see the families of the hostages crowdfunding just to survive. The bottom line is that the state isn’t really there, and that’s becoming clear to more and more Israelis.

“There’s a lot of despair,” Menuchin continued. “People don’t know where this is heading. You see the rush for foreign passports — even before October 7 — and the search for ‘better’ places to emigrate to. There’s a growing retreat into concern for one’s own interest group. And above all, the hostages are not being brought back.”