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Am I doing something wrong by refusing to serve in a military where service is obligated?

Asked by tamydice (46points) March 10th, 2019

I live in Israel so I’m forced to go to the military for three years. I found a “tricky” way to get an exemption and I’m heavily considering it. My problem is that I know that if I don’t serve I will be shamed by many people in my society.

I came with the conclusion that as long as I’m able to justify refusing to serve in the military it would be alright, because that way whenever I get hate for that it wouldn’t bother me because I would genuinely feel like I did the right thing. But right now my motivation to get an exemption is purely of selfish reasons, I wanna keep working, I feel like there are a lot opportunities that I would miss if I were to go to the military, etc..

So I feel like I need to justify not serving in the military in other ways so for example by saying: the IDF is using too much force against Palestinians and I don’t want to support this kind of behavior, or I feel like I could help and contribute more to the situation in Israel in other ways like by raising awareness for the problems.

Are these mere excuses to justify my inner selfishness? is there an actual right or wrong answer to whether or not someone should refuse to serve in a military where there is an obligation of military service? do you feel like it’s more moral or immoral to do so?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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