Captain Yotam Vilk: 'I am a Zionist and I fought in Gaza, now it is time to say enough'

Captain Yotam Vilk has been fighting on the front lines in Gaza, leading tanks and ground manoeuvres for over a year. But today, having seen the war from the inside, he makes a dramatic appeal to the New York Times: stop, say 'enough'. In his account, the turning point comes when awareness becomes unbearable. "If on 7 October 2023 we went to war to save what we held most dear," he writes, "it soon became clear to me that we were fighting because our leaders had never planned to stop.

His is a direct indictment of Israeli policy, which he says has turned Gaza into a 'lawless zone' and imposed on the soldiers a war 'without a deadline, without achievable goals, without an exit strategy'. Vilk speaks of a conflict led "by nationalist populists who refused to pay the political price necessary to make the decisions to end the war", instead shifting the burden "onto soldiers, hostages and Palestinians".

An unambiguous appeal: "The plan to reoccupy Gaza City is not a considered military move, but a symptom of dependence on occupation by a government that only knows how to destroy, not build". His criticism also touches on PM Netanyahu: any announcement of a return to negotiations, he argues, is just a ploy to buy time and placate internal protests, destined to dissolve soon after.

The captain then denounces the illusion sold to the public: 'The government keeps talking about "total victory" as if it were a strategy, but it is just marketing. anybody with their eyes open knows that it is a lie'. According to him, Hamas as an organised force "was defeated long ago" and even "every senior security official knows this". Therefore, prolonging the conflict only means "more victims, more hostages who will not return alive, and a further erosion of Israel's position internationally".

The most radical point of his message is the call to refuse mobilisation: 'Today I implore my comrades: refuse to present yourselves. Thousands have already done so, some have been sent to prison. This is the moment to speak out. It is your duty'. A statement that undermines one of the pillars of Israeli society, where military service is collective identity. But for Vilk, the only betrayal would be to obey again: "To refuse is not to betray the state. To refuse is the only way to save it'.