LENTERAMERAH – Amidst a surge of public support in Israel for military strikes against Iran, a small group of citizens has taken to the streets to oppose the war—only to face a harsh police crackdown.
One such individual is Itamar Greenberg, a 19-year-old law student and anti-war activist. On Tuesday night (March 3, 2026), he was arrested in Tel Aviv while participating in a protest at Habima Square against the joint Israel–United States military operations.
Out of approximately 20 demonstrators present, Greenberg was the only one detained. During processing, police forced him to undergo a full strip search. The Tel Aviv District Court later ruled the search illegal and overturned the house arrest order previously imposed on him.
This was not his first encounter with the authorities. Greenberg is a known “military refusenik”—a citizen who refuses mandatory military service on the grounds of conscience. Due to his repeated refusal to join the IDF, he has been detained six times, spending a total of 197 days in military prison.
His stance remains unwavering. “This is not an anomaly—it is a reflection of Israel’s apartheid regime. Israel has never been a democracy, not now, and never will be. Stop the imperialist attacks. Stop the bombings. Resist,” he wrote on X.
What has changed, however, is the political climate. A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute indicates that 93 percent of Jewish Israelis support the strikes on Iran, while 74 percent express support for Netanyahu. The anti-war movement, which was small to begin with, now finds it increasingly difficult to be heard.
“Israel has become a society with no middle ground, with no capacity for dialogue,” said political analyst Ori Goldberg.
Greenberg continues to write. In an op-ed published in Haaretz (March 7, 2026), he recounted the night of his arrest: “The Israeli police beat me, arrested me, and forced me to undergo a naked search. They will continue to crush ‘illegal’ protests to serve the regime.” ***
