محادثات أميركية روسية بالسعودية بعد نقاش “مثمر” مع الأوكرانيين
يلتقي وفد أميركي مع مسؤولين روس -اليوم الاثنين- في العاصمة السعودية لإجراء محادثات تهدف إلى إحراز تقدم نحو وقف إطلاق النار في البحر الأسود وإنهاء الحرب في أوكرانيا، وذلك بعد المناقشات التي أجراها الوفد الأميركي مع دبلوماسيين من أوكرانيا أمس. وقد وصف وزير الدفاع الأوكراني رستم عمروف تلك المحادثات بأنها كانت “مثمرة وهادفة” وركزت على مناقشة قطاع الطاقة.
وأفاد مصدر مطلع على الخطط الأميركية تجاه المحادثات بأن الوفد الأميركي يقوده أندرو بيك مسؤول الشؤون الأوروبية في مجلس الأمن القومي، ومايكل أنتون كبير موظفي تخطيط السياسات بالخارجية.
والتقى الدبلوماسيان الأميركيان مع مسؤولين من أوكرانيا أمس، ويعتزمان الاجتماع مع الروس اليوم.
ويقول البيت الأبيض إن الهدف من تلك المحادثات هو التوصل إلى وقف إطلاق النار في البحر الأسود، للسماح بحرية حركة الملاحة.
وقال مستشار الأمن القومي الأميركي بالبيت الأبيض مايك والتز -في حديث لقناة “سي بي إس” أمس- إن اللقاءات بين الوفود الأميركية والروسية والأوكرانية تعقد في نفس المكان بالرياض.
وأضاف والتز أن المناقشات ستشمل إلى جانب وقف إطلاق النار في البحر الأسود “خط السيطرة” بين البلدين مما يشمل “إجراءات للتحقق وحفظ السلام وتثبيت الحدود على ما هي عليه”.
وقال أيضا إنه يجري مناقشة “إجراءات لبناء الثقة” بما في ذلك “إعادة الأطفال الأوكرانيين الذين اختطفتهم روسيا”.
وقد بادر المتحدّث باسم الكرملين ديمتري بيسكوف إلى خفض سقف التوقّعات المرتبطة بالمحادثات المرتقبة، قائلا للتلفزيون الروسي أمس “هذا موضوع معقد للغاية ويتطلب الكثير من العمل”.
وأضاف بيسكوف “لسنا سوى في بداية هذا المسار” أي مسار تسوية النزاع الذي اندلع في فبراير/شباط 2022.
وفي مؤشّر إلى التباينات في وجهات النظر، يترأس الوفد الأوكراني وزير الدفاع، في حين قرّر بوتين إيفاد مبعوثين أدنى رتبة هما سيناتور ودبلوماسي سابق ومسؤول بجهاز الأمن الداخلي.
وسيمثل روسيا غريغوري كاراسين، وهو دبلوماسي سابق يشغل حاليا منصب رئيس لجنة الشؤون الخارجية بمجلس الاتحاد الروسي، وسيرغي بيسيدا مستشار رئيس جهاز الأمن الاتحادي.
نقاش أميركي أوكراني
وقد أعلن وزير الدفاع الأوكراني مساء أمس أن جولة المحادثات -التي عقدت مع مسؤولين أميركيين بالرياض حول وضع حد للحرب مع روسيا- كانت “مثمرة ومركزة”.
وقال عمروف في منشور على مواقع التواصل “اختتمنا اجتماعنا مع الفريق الأميركي. وكان النقاش مثمرا ومركزا، وقد أثرنا نقاطا رئيسية بينها الطاقة” مضيفا أن كييف تعمل على جعل هدفها المتمثل في سلام عادل ومستدام “حقيقة”.
وأشار الوزير الذي يترأس وفد بلاده -في منشور على فيسبوك- إلى أن المحادثات الأميركية الأوكرانية تضمنت مقترحات لحماية منشآت الطاقة والبنية التحتية الحيوية.
وفي غضون ذلك، طالب الرئيس الأوكراني فولوديمير زيلينسكي أمس في رسالة عبر مواقع التواصل بـ”دفع” نظيره الروسي فلاديمير بوتين إلى “إصدار أمر فعلي بوقف الضربات”.
وتابع “إن من بدأ هذه الحرب عليه أن ينهيها” وأضاف “من الواضح بالنسبة إلى الجميع أنّ روسيا هي الوحيدة التي تطيل أمد هذه الحرب”.
ورأى زيلينسكي أنّه “من دون ممارسة ضغوط على روسيا، سيواصلون في موسكو تجاهل الدبلوماسية الحقيقية، وتدمير حياة الناس”.
ومن جهته، أظهر ستيف ويتكوف موفد الرئيس الأميركي تفاؤلا الأحد، قائلا إنه يتوقع إحراز “تقدم حقيقي” خلال هذه المحادثات.
وقال الرئيس الأميركي أول أمس إن الجهود المبذولة لوقف المزيد من التصعيد في الصراع الأوكراني الروسي “تحت السيطرة إلى حد ما”.
وتأمل واشنطن التوصل إلى وقف إطلاق نار شامل في غضون أسابيع، وتهدف إلى تحقيق هدنة بحلول 20 أبريل/نيسان وفق ما ذكره موقع بلومبيرغ أمس نقلا عن مصادر مطلعة.
معارك يومية
في موازاة الجهود الدبلوماسية، أعلن الجيش الأوكراني أمس عن استعادته قرية صغيرة في منطقة لوغانسك الشرقية، في تقدّم نادر لقوّاته بالمنطقة التي سيطرت عليها روسيا بشكل شبه كامل منذ 2022.
وأعلن الجيش الروسي -الذي يحرز تقدّما ميدانيا كبيرا- السيطرة على بلدة سريبنيه في الشرق الأوكراني.
وليل السبت الأحد، تعرّضت العاصمة كييف لهجوم روسي “مكثّف” بواسطة المسيّرات، بحسب السلطات المحلية.
وفي أعقاب هذا القصف الجديد، حضّ الرئيس الأوكراني حلفاءه على ممارسة “ضغوط” على موسكو من أجل “وضع حد” للنزاع، في حين ندّد وزير الخارجية الأوكراني أندري سيبيغا بـ”الإرهاب المنهجي” الروسي الذي “يقوض جهود السلام”.
وتسعى أوكرانيا ردّا على الضربات -التي تستهدف أراضيها يوميا منذ أكثر من 3 سنوات- إلى زعزعة السلسلة اللوجستية للجيش الروسي من خلال استهداف مواقع عسكرية أو منشآت للطاقة مباشرة على الأراضي الروسية.
وقد أعلنت وزارة الدفاع الروسية من جانبها صدّ 59 مسيّرة أوكرانية ليل السبت الأحد.
وفي منطقة روستوف الروسية (جنوب غرب) قتل شخص في ضربة لمسيّرة على سيّارته، بحسب الحاكم الإقليمي الروسي يوري سليوسار.
Source: Apps Support
إسماعيل برهوم قيادي في حماس اغتالته إسرائيل أثناء تلقيه العلاج
إسماعيل برهوم شخصية بارزة في حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس)، اُنتخب عام 2021 لعضوية مكتبها السياسي، وهو من مواليد محافظة رفح، كما شغل منصب رئيس قسم المالية الإقليمية في الحركة، وكان له دور مهم في إدارة عدد من الجمعيات والمؤسسات الخيرية التابعة لها، اغتاله الاحتلال الإسرائيلي يوم 23 مارس/آذار 2025 أثناء تلقيه العلاج في مستشفى ناصر الطبي بمدينة خان يونس.
المولد والنشأة
وُلد إسماعيل موسى أحمد برهوم يوم 23 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 1968 في محافظة رفح جنوب قطاع غزة.
التجربة السياسية
في 14 مارس/آذار 2021 اُنتخب عضوا في المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس بقطاع غزة، مما عزز مكانته باعتباره إحدى الشخصيات المؤثرة في الحركة، إضافة إلى كونه عضوا في مجلس الشورى.
شغل منصب رئيس قسم المالية الإقليمية في حماس، وهي مسؤولية محورية تتعلق بإدارة الموارد المالية للحركة وتوجيهها نحو مشاريعها المختلفة.
كان له دور مهم في إدارة عدد من الجمعيات والمؤسسات الخيرية التابعة لحماس.
وبحسب تقارير إعلامية محلية، كان برهوم عضوا بارزا في كتائب القسام الجناح العسكري لحركة حماس.
فرضت الولايات المتحدة والمملكة المتحدة عقوبات على عدد من قيادات حركة حماس -بمن في ذلك إسماعيل برهوم- تضمنت تجميد أصوله وحظر التعاملات المالية معه باعتباره إحدى الشخصيات المرتبطة بحركة حماس وأنشطتها.
أعلنت حركة حماس اغتيال إسماعيل برهوم يوم 23 مارس/آذار 2025، وذلك إثر قصف إسرائيلي لأحد أقسام مستشفى ناصر الطبي في مدينة خان يونس جنوبي قطاع غزة.
وقالت حماس في بيان إن برهوم “ارتقى شهيدا إثر جريمة اغتيال صهيونية جبانة” استهدفته عبر قصفه في مستشفى ناصر بمدينة خان يونس “أثناء تلقيه العلاج”.
Source: Apps Support
Trump’s assault on elites encompasses almost every aspect of American life
President Donald Trump is escalating his multi-front assault on what supporters see as an elite establishment, using raw presidential power to bend the government, law, media, public health, foreign policy, education and even the arts to his will.
Trump left no doubt in last year’s campaign that he’d use executive authority to seek retribution against his political enemies. But his attempt to transform America’s politics and culture is far broader than a personal revenge trip.
He’s targeting Ivy League universities; using executive authority against top law firms; eviscerating the bureaucracy; rejecting 80 years of elite orthodoxy about American global leadership; and using tariffs to shatter the global trading system that Make America Great Again proponents regard as the self-enriching treachery of global elites.
In one recent example, the White House forced Columbia University to restrict demonstrations, review its Middle East curriculum, ban masks in protests and stiffen law enforcement. Other top educational institutions now feel vulnerable to possible attempts to impose Trump dogma. The strategy may widen the political opening created by conservative pressure on top colleges over anti-Israel protests amid the war in Gaza.
And late last week, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek sanctions against lawyers and law firms who engage in what he regards as “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.” The memo was released after he canceled punishment against one top white-collar firm after the White House said it agreed to do $40 million in pro bono legal services to support administration initiatives and promised to drop diversity, equity and inclusion. The firm — Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison — disputes the administration’s characterization of the agreement, but the deal caused a backlash among many Washington lawyers.
Trump’s broad strategy pulsates with the anti-establishment energy that animated his rowdy campaign rallies, and is part of a deeper attempt to destroy what critics see as a liberal in-crowd that dominates Washington governance and global power in the West with what many conservatives see as more authentic American values. This aspiration lies behind the president’s gutting of the Department of Education, which has long been viewed by Republicans as a tool of Democratic-backed teachers’ unions and a lever for more inclusive gender, race and inclusion policies that many conservatives oppose.
Trump’s choice of education secretary, Linda McMahon — who lacks background in the field but made a fortune promoting theatrical, choreographed bouts of professional wrestling — is itself a rebuke to the education establishment. McMahon explained her mission to downgrade her department to CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday on “State of the Union”: “The Department of Education does not educate one child. It does not establish any curriculum in any states. It doesn’t hire teachers. It doesn’t establish programs,” she said, vowing to send federal funds directly to states.
McMahon’s appointment springs from the same elite-bashing sentiments that led Trump to name Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump is trying to change America’s culture as well as its politics
Trump’s politics has long been hostile to intellectualism. And a president who was mocked by the establishment for years is now using his second administration to settle scores.
But his attempt to bring universities, the media and the medical establishment into line is raising fears for academic and press freedom and the sanctity of science in public health. And his ambitions go further — he’s even taken control of the Kennedy Center in Washington, put Fox News anchors on its board and promised to replace high culture with more mainstream programming.
This is all consistent with a president who draws most support from outside America’s cities and wealthy middle-class suburbs; and who believes he has a mandate for transformation after winning all seven swing states and the popular vote in 2024. It also speaks to the revolution he led in the Republican Party, which has shed its establishment past and now channels working-class constituencies that used to be Democratic.
But the administration’s latest actions also have dark parallels to the tactics of strongman leaders whose assaults on academia, the media, the law, and business led to the shriveling of basic freedoms, democracy and the proliferation of oligarchical corruption — for instance in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a hero of the MAGA movement.
Trump’s ultra-nationalist instincts and admiration for dictators such as Russian President Vladimir Putin — a rebuke to generations of US establishment foreign policy directed against Kremlin expansionism — is calling into doubt the international system built by national security elites after World War II and the system of alliances with democracies that are the foundation of US global power.
And his administration’s insistence that what it regards as an elite liberal corps of district court judges don’t have the right to interpret the Constitution in a way that constrains the power of an all-powerful president is now encroaching on the rule of law in America, even if the White House is yet to challenge the Supreme Court — perhaps in the belief that its conservative majority will validate some of the president’s own worldview.
How the MAGA project believes leftist elites compromise American greatness
Trump sketched out his approach in multiple policy areas in his searing inaugural address, which was a statement of intent to ensure his second term will impose the kind of fundamental change that his first failed to enshrine and of the belief that he was “saved by God to make America great again.”
In Trump’s eyes, that greatness has been compromised by leftist elite policies that shattered domestic manufacturing, suppressed freedom with public health mandates, inflicted radical liberal values in education, allowed unchecked migration, caused weakness abroad and allowed America’s friends to exploit its generosity. “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair,” Trump said after he was sworn in.
His program mirrors the goals of Project 2025, the playbook for conservative presidential leadership that Trump disowned during his campaign but that now helps explain the policy decisions of his administration. “The next conservative president must possess the courage to relentlessly put the interests of the everyday American over the desires of the ruling elite,” Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts wrote in the foreword of the document. “Their outrage cannot be prevented; it must simply be ignored, and it can be.”
The synergy between Trump’s desire to punish sources of power that he believes have wronged him and the wider administration attempt to neutralize any attempt to neutralize constraints drove his showdown with big law firms Paul, Weiss. The president signed an executive order that suspended security clearances for the firm’s attorneys — a move that could have hampered its capacity to do act in cases that intersect with the federal government. The order was consistent with the president’s attempt to end what he calls the “weaponization” of justice — by targeting lawyers or firms that previously took part in prosecutions against him.
In a letter to Paul, Weiss employees, the firm’s chairman Brad Karp explained his decision to deal with the president, warning that the executive order could have “easily have destroyed our firm. It brought the full weight of the government down on our firm, our people, and our clients.”
But the company’s decision provoked wider worries that the president will use his power to threaten law firms with ruin if they act on behalf of his opponents.
Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the US government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout/Reuters
Administration claims liberal judges are illegitimate
Trump’s attempts to bring legal elites in private firms to heel mirror his assault on another establishment the president is trying to disempower — the federal judiciary. This is highlighted by his attacks on a US federal judge who sought to halt deportations of alleged gang members to Venezuela that the White House carried out under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Judge James Boasberg is trying to find out whether the administration flouted his orders to halt the deportations last weekend. His efforts have sparked the extraordinary spectacle of an attorney general directly attacking his legitimacy.
“This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge trying to control our entire foreign policy. And he cannot do it,” Bondi said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” which is presented by Maria Bartiromo — one of the Fox anchors Trump elevated to the board of the Kennedy Center. “They’re not immigrants. They’re illegal aliens who are committing the most violent crimes you can imagine on Americans, murder, rapes,” Bondi said of Venezuelans deported to a draconian El Salvador prison run by dictator Nayib Bukele, which has raised human rights concerns.
The administration’s use of a national security argument as justification for the deportations, which Trump claims are part of a Venezuelan invasion, may be designed to chill the judge’s attempts to gain clarity. While Bondi said those deported were criminals, the administration has so far not provided any case-by-case details on those involved. CNN has so far been unable to establish that any of the migrants belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, which the administration said was the reason for the deportations.
Trump’s aides keep arguing that Boasberg is a liberal judge. But he was first appointed by Republican President George W. Bush and then promoted by President Barack Obama. He has a long reputation as a nonpartisan judge. The claims that only Trump-appointed judges are fit to rule on Trump administration policies threaten to destroy the foundation of the legal system.
The deportations are one of the most prominent examples of the administration’s habit to applying vast executive power in an apparent attempt to outrun the capacity of the courts or its political opponents to impose constraints in real time.
But the ambition of leaving existing sources of elite power in Washington in tatters runs through all of the administration’s goals — from the seizure of control of the White House press pool from journalists to include pro-Trump outlets to trashing generations of US bipartisan policy with threats to annex Canada while officials repeatedly parrot Russian propaganda on Ukraine.
Source: CNN
‘I would prefer this over killing children:’ Why some Israeli teens are choosing jail over the army
Tel Aviv, Israel CNN —
At a military prison in central Israel, 18-year-old Itamar Greenberg sat in a US Army-issued army uniform as the Hollywood blockbuster “American Sniper” blared from the rec room’s TV.
But Greenberg is not a soldier, and the desert camouflage fatigues are the only military uniform the so-called refusenik – as conscientious objectors are called in Israel – has ever worn.
Greenberg has been in and out of prison for the last year, serving a total of 197 days over five consecutive sentences. Earlier this month, Greenberg was released from the Neve Tzedek prison for the last time.
His crime? Refusing to enlist after being summoned for military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis – and some minorities – over the age of 18.
Greenberg said his refusal to serve came as the “culmination of a long process of learning and moral reckoning.”
“The more I learned, the more I knew I couldn’t wear a uniform that symbolizes killing and oppression,” he said, explaining that Israel’s war in Gaza – which was launched after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023 – solidified his decision to refuse.
“There is genocide,” he said. “So we don’t need good reasons (to refuse).”
The Israeli government has vehemently denied accusations that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people.
The war, which was reignited last week when Israel resumed airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza after a short-lived ceasefire, has killed over 50,000 Palestinians in 17 months, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Over 670 people have been killed and 1,200 others injured in Gaza since Tuesday alone, when Israel’s military campaign restarted, according to the health ministry there.
“I want this change, and I will give my life for it,” Greenberg said of his decision to serve time in prison rather than serving with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Itamar Greenberg stands under a painting that reads “Save Rafah” at the headquarters of the left-wing political coalition Hadash on Saturday.
Kara Fox/CNN
It’s a decision that conscientious objectors like Greenberg don’t take lightly, as refusing the draft is essentially a choice of ostracization.
In Israel, the military is more than just an institution. It’s part of the social fabric, with military service and secular Jewish-Israeli identity deeply intertwined. And it starts early: From elementary school, students are taught they will one day be the soldiers who will protect children just like them, with soldiers visiting classrooms and schools explicitly encouraging students to enlist. At 16, those children receive their first recruitment orders, culminating with conscription at 18. Many see it as an honor, a duty and a rite of passage.
Greenberg has been called a self-hating Jew, antisemitic, a terrorist supporter, and a traitor, he said – even by family and friends.
“People message me on Instagram and say that they will slaughter me, as Hamas did to Israelis on October 7,” he said.
In prison, Greenberg was placed in solitary confinement after receiving threats from fellow inmates – a move that prison officials told him was “for his safety.”
Despite social ostracization, he – and what a network of organizations supporting conscientious objectors say is a growing number of refuseniks – remain dedicated to the cause.
Their numbers are still exceedingly small. Only a dozen Israeli teens have publicly refused to enlist on conscientious grounds since the start of the war, according to Mesarvot, an organization that supports objectors. But that number is higher than in years prior to the war.
Mesarvot told CNN that there are far more “grey refuseniks” or, people that claim mental or general health exemptions to dodge the draft and avoid the possibility of serving time behind bars. Because of the nature of those refusals, it is impossible to provide exact numbers.
Yesh Gvul, another anti-war group that supports conscientious objectors, told CNN that on average, every year, 20% of youngsters required to serve are refusing to do so, according to figures shared by the Israeli military. That number, Yesh Gvul said, includes both refuseniks and “grey refuseniks.”
The Israeli military does not publish figures about conscription refusal. CNN has asked the Israeli military for those figures and comment.
Other groups have been far more vocal than the refuseniks in refusing to take part in Israel’s military tradition. Before the October 7 attacks, thousands of reservists protesting the government’s desire to weaken the judiciary said that they would not show up for service. And for months, the country has been roiled over the conscription of ultra-orthodox men who refuse to enter the military because they are studying in religious schools.
Greenberg’s views are extreme even for the increasingly marginalized Israeli left. The mass protests that have become commonplace since October 7 are not so much against the military or war writ large, but in favor of a ceasefire deal to bring home hostages held in Gaza. But Greenberg and other refuseniks hope that their movement might create space for a more mainstream dialogue on the pitfalls of a militarized society.
“If I join the army, I just will be part of the problem. I personally prefer to be part of the solution,” Greenberg said, noting that he may not live to see it.
A group of refuseniks prepare for their weekly demonstration in central Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Kara Fox/CNN
On Saturday, around a dozen of those refuseniks met at the headquarters of the left-wing political coalition Hadash to prepare for their weekly demonstration in central Tel Aviv.
Smoking a roll-up cigarette on the balcony of the building with a handful of other conscientious objectors, Lior Fogel, a 19-year-old from Tel Aviv, said she had always had “issues with the army as an institution, based on violence and force,” and managed to get a psychiatrist to sign her off with a mental health condition to get out of service.
She told CNN that it was only after she received her exemption from the army that she began to understand the role that the military plays in the systemic everyday violence of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. That injustice, she said, drives her activism today.
Multiple human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians constitutes apartheid. Israel has denounced that characterization as antisemitic.
“The system of apartheid and the maintenance of this rule that actively oppresses another group cannot be upheld. Not only is it immoral and generally horrible, but it will end up blowing up in your face,” Fogel said.
Lior Fogel (center) said her parents were against her decision and that by not joining the army, she became a societal “outcast.”
Kara Fox/CNN
As Fogel and the others marched to Begin Street to join thousands of people from all walks of society who were demonstrating under an umbrella of pro-democracy and anti-war, she too, acknowledged that the views of the refuseniks remain fringe.
Still, the activists might be meeting their moment.
Rage against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached a fever pitch this week among tens of thousands of protesters who believe he is employing increasingly anti-democratic means to stay in power, and who question what he hopes to achieve with a renewed military campaign that nearly a year and a half of relentless war has not.
Many blame Netanyahu for prioritizing his political survival over the security of his country and say the renewed military campaign grossly endangers the lives of the estimated 24 living hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas and its allies.
The sentiment marks a significant turn in the conflict, and one that refuseniks hope will give Israelis that are considering refusing to serve in protest of the renewed military campaign the power to act – regardless of political persuasion.
“When Israel restarted the fight, a lot of people, not radical or left, but people that support the ceasefire and the hostages can now say, we will refuse – even if they don’t care about the Palestinians,” Greenberg said.
“The refusal is now less taboo. So, they can use this tool that we developed – even though they think that we are crazy and traitors – when they think it’s right,” he added.
Another refusenik at the demonstration, Iddo Elam, 18, who served time in prison for his refusal, told CNN: “I would prefer this over killing children.” According to UNICEF, more than 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
Elam said he was hoping his protest would help fellow Israelis to understand that “the pain of Palestinians is the same as Israelis.”
When another attendee of the wider protest heard Elam talking, he interrupted to insist that the teenager’s viewpoint isn’t representative of Israeli society, and said: “That’s not true. He is a minority, and his views don’t represent what everybody else here thinks.”
But others stood by in support of dozens of objectors who chanted “peace, equality, social justice,” and held signs that read “refuse the war, mobilize for peace.”
Rakefet Lapid, whose two children also refused service years before the war, and whose family lives in one of the kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas on October 7 said: “I’m glad they are still some young people willing to say that.”
“But I’m sorry they are a small minority,” she added.
A 16-year-old soon-to-be refusnik plays the snare drums alongside fellow anti-war activists in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
Kara Fox/CNN
Greenberg said he chose to go public because he “didn’t want to lie.”
But one 16-year-old who asked not to be named, told CNN that while he knows he will refuse the draft when his time comes, he is still deciding how.
While the teen has secured papers from a psychiatrist that say he has mental issues that won’t allow him to serve, he said his reason is not due to his mental health – but his political perspective.
“If I’m going out on my ‘mental issues,’ then it’s like saying to the army: ‘I am the problem, not you,’” he said.
CNN’s Mick Krever contributed to this report.
Source: CNN