{"id":158031,"date":"2024-06-22T12:25:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T16:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=158031"},"modified":"2024-06-22T12:25:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T16:25:54","slug":"airmen-applying-for-conscientious-objector-status-over-us-support-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=158031","title":{"rendered":"Airmen applying for conscientious objector status over US support for Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Larry Hebert and Juan Bettancourt both serve in the U.S. Air Force. After seeing events between Hamas and Israel, and the US’s support for Israel, these Airmen decided to apply for conscientious objector status. Both labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” and expressed belief that this sentiment is growing. Based a track record of the previous decisions on these conscientious objector applications, these Airman may either get an honorable or a general discharge.<\/p>\n

From NBC News:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After witnessing footage of death and destruction in Gaza, senior U.S. Airman Juan Bettancourt said he could no longer ignore the U.S. government’s role in the war, including its supply of weapons, diplomatic coverage and intelligence.<\/p>\n

“I see the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians,” Bettancourt said during an interview in San Antonio, Texas, “all while the world watches through their smartphones.”<\/p>\n

A new phase in the long-simmering Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on Oct. 7 last year, after armed militants surged across the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, a close U.S. ally, and began a devastating massacre that killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory military assault has heightened calls for a cease-fire amid a spiraling civilian death toll that local authorities say has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Hebert, who enlisted six years ago and is based in Rota, Spain, and Bettancourt are both in the U.S. Air Force and are currently requesting to become conscientious objectors over the United States support of Israel, a decision they said was emboldened by the ongoing war in Gaza. The service members made clear that these were their personal views and chose not to appear in uniform when they sat down for an interview with NBC News’ “Nightly News” to emphasize that they were not speaking on behalf of the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Hebert and Bettancourt, who enlisted in 2022, said the scale of atrocities pushed them to question their participation in a military system that they believe is helping to perpetuate the heavy death toll. Both referred to Israel’s attack on Gaza as “genocide” and said footage coming out of the region is weighing not only on them but many Americans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Additional Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doyle, K., & Kube, C. (2024, June 22). U.S. military members discuss seeking conscientious objector status over support of Israel in Gaza. NBC News<\/em>. Link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Larry Hebert and Juan Bettancourt both serve in the U.S. Air Force. After seeing events between … Airmen applying for conscientious objector status over US support for Israel<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[466,7,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-terror-war","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}