Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times Highlight

Some time later, I put Kidron’s argument to a senior Israeli officer. Nonsense, he said. “Look, the law is very, very clear in these matters,” the officer maintained. “The time when it’s appropriate to refuse is when your crime is a crime against humanity.” And why didn’t the occupation qualify as such? “Listen, to stand at a roadblock is not pleasant,” the officer said. “To be a Palestinian at a roadblock is even more unpleasant. But a roadblock is not a crime against humanity. To stop someone at two in the morning and to take them from their kids, from their bed, it’s not a crime against humanity, not until you know the context. “Now, to kill POWs, to kill children, to kill civilians intentionally, to destroy hospitals or sacred places—these are crimes against humanity, and you must refuse,” he continued. “Not just refuse but ensure that others don’t do these things.”