Yotam Vilk is a reserve captain in the Israel Defense Forces and a member of Soldiers for the Hostages, an organization of Israelis who served in Gaza and are refusing to return. In an Aug. 30 guest essay in the New York Times, Vilk states that after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, he was consumed by the feeling that the Israeli military had failed to protect the nation. For him and others in the military, the pain was unbearable. He eagerly entered combat, “fueled by anger and guilt.” Vilk fought in Gaza for one year, first as a tank platoon commander and later as the deputy to his company commander. Vilk led ground maneuvers in Gaza, taking Hamas strongholds, tunnels, weapons depots, and command posts.
After some time, Vilk realized, “Our own state had lost its way.” Vilk writes that the only reason that the Israeli military continued fighting was “because our leaders were never planning to stop.” He writes, “It was a war waged by nationalist populists who refused to pay the political price necessary to make the decisions to bring an end to the war and instead demanded that we—the soldiers, the hostages and the Palestinians—pay it in blood. Gaza became a lawless zone, with little effective oversight of the military and almost no personal accountability for soldiers. We came to wage a war without a timeline, without attainable goals, without an exit strategy.”
Vilk continued, “On Oct. 9, 2024, a group of Israel Defense Force soldiers, including me, issued a public letter declaring that our service had become untenable in light of Israel’s policy in Gaza and mounting evidence that the government was deliberately sabotaging hostage deals. My brigade commander immediately suspended me from my unit, despite the protests of my subordinate soldiers.”
The essay continues: “Today, as the government calls on tens of thousands of reservists to participate in the cruel reoccupation of Gaza City, I implore my fellow soldiers: Refuse to report. Thousands have already stopped showing up. Some have been sent to prison. Many remain silent. This is the time to speak. It is your duty.”
