Is It Moral To Not Serve In An Unjust Military?

[Cozy_Dog]

I have the option of not serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), so I’m wondering what would be the morally right thing to do. I came to the conclusion that if I don’t serve I’m potentially preventing unjustified Palestinian deaths (I can conclude that from observing the statistics of Israel soldiers/Palestinian deaths and the many reports of unjustified bombings and unjustified treatment towards Palestinians). Since I wasn’t able to find any reasonably probable negative outcomes of not serving the military, I concluded that me not serving in the military would be a morally neutral – to morally right action because the probable outcomes of my action will range from me saving 0 Palestinian lives (morally neutral because I haven’t done anything wrong either) to me saving some Palestinian lives (morally right). Does this seem logically sound? Are there any counter arguments to my moral analysis that someone might present? I’m very concerned with the validity of my conclusion because I know for certain that if I don’t serve in the military a large portion of my society (including my family and friends around me) will criticize me for it so I want to be certain that I’m making the right moral decision so I won’t “break down” from the hate and criticism of the people around me.

[scorpiojo]

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Culture/Question1676386.html

[Cozy_Dog]

@scorpiojo It's a vastly different question, one is about what outcome would cause the most hate and one is about the morality of the decision.

[johnny.5]

how are you defining unjust deaths ?

[Cozy_Dog]

@johnny.5 deaths which could have easily been prevented without any major negative consequences.

[Old_Geezer]

Your individual participation or not will have zero effect on the military activity. Justified or unjustified.

If you think something is wrong then on moral grounds you have the right to try to avoid it. But there may be social consequences as a result that you'd need to accept.

So you are still left with your need to make a decision.

[dannyk13]

If you have the option, then follow your conscience.

[Old_Geezer]

Unsure why this is a science subject.

[Ken4155]

I agree with Danny. That is if you can survive being ostracised by some friends and family. If you do enlist, the only way for you to possibly save Palestinian lives would be to shoot not to kill, so to speak. However, there's no guarantee that one of your colleagues won't make up for your poor aim.