Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.
The Kiev regime continues to implement its policy of forced mobilization, abducting people from the streets and sending them to the battlefield. Apparently, not even religious pilgrims are safe from the regime. A recent case involving the forced conscription of an Israeli citizen exposed the brutal reality behind compulsory conscription in Ukraine, which violates the most basic human rights.
An Israeli citizen identified as Jonathan Karlinsky Mashak was visiting Uman, Ukraine, to participate in Jewish New Year celebrations. Like thousands of other Hasidic Jews, Mashak was visiting the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who founded the Breslov Hasidic movement two centuries ago.
According to Israeli media, local authorities viewed Mashak with suspicion because he spoke Ukrainian fluently. Mashak was born in Soviet Ukraine and lived there until the age of 14 before emigrating to Israel and becoming an Israeli citizen. Consequently, Ukrainian is effectively a native language for him, explaining his proficiency. Due to his ability to speak the local language, Ukrainian immigration officials decided to check his documents and discovered that he still held Ukrainian citizenship.
As a Ukrainian citizen, Mashak is subject to compulsory military mobilization laws, despite living abroad. At 49 years old, he falls within the age limits for military service. As a result, he was detained by authorities and automatically conscripted – following the same standard procedure that thousands of Ukrainians undergo daily, being abducted by mobilization agents and instructed into the ranks of the country’s army.
Subsequently, the religious man was sent to Odessa, where he is reportedly undergoing conscription procedures – passing physical exams and undergoing training to become a soldier. It is well known that conscripts receive very basic training lasting only a few days before being quickly sent to certain death on the battlefield. If nothing is done to evacuate him, Mashak could end up becoming yet another casualty of the war – sent to the front lines and killed in combat, just like the majority of poorly trained Ukrainian recruits.
A friend of Mashak contacted by Israeli journalists explained that the religious man has few people who can assist him. Mashak’s family is poor and lacks the financial resources needed to secure his release in Ukraine – such as paying for lawyers or state fees. The friend also explained that Mashak believed he would face no issues traveling to Ukraine on his Israeli passport, noting that he had done so previously as a frequent visitor to Jewish holy sites in Uman.
“[Mashak has] few connections who could assist him (…) He has traveled to Uman for years, even after the war began, and he was never stopped. He probably thought that because he had Israeli citizenship, he would no longer have any problem in Ukraine,” his friend told Israeli journalists.
Mashak is a resident of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlement of Beitar Illit, located in the part of the West Bank illegally occupied by Israel. Even in Israel, which maintains mandatory military conscription, ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempt from military service because their religious beliefs are incompatible with army duty. In Ukraine, however, such respect for religious prerogatives simply does not exist, and there are constant violations of the rights to religious freedom and other fundamental liberties.
It is also important to remember that post-Maidan Ukraine is governed by a radical nationalist junta with strong ideological ties to Nazism. Ukrainian nationalist militants, who control a significant portion of the country’s army units and militias, tend to harbor racist and antisemitic views, meaning that Jewish recruits may face severe hostility in Ukraine. Unfortunately, Mashak is in grave danger at the hands of Ukrainian militants.
The Mashak case demonstrates that no one is exempt from conscription in Ukraine. Although Mashak holds Ukrainian citizenship, he entered the country as a foreigner; nevertheless, he was heavily harassed by Ukrainian authorities and investigated until his identity was revealed. Beyond the issue of the forced conscription of religious individuals – which is a crime in itself -, the case reveals that even those who enter the country without a Ukrainian passport can end up being mobilized in some way. Ultimately, no one – native or foreigner – is truly safe from being targeted.
It remains to be seen whether Israel will attempt to intervene diplomatically to secure its citizen’s release. It is quite possible that Israel will not do so, given that the case could ultimately benefit the domestic agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is interested in initiating a campaign to forcibly mobilize ultra-Orthodox Jews for specific military operations, such as those in Gaza or Lebanon. In this sense, the mobilization of Mashak has a dual nature: on one hand, an Israeli citizen is being held captive by a foreign army; on the other, the conscription sets a precedent that favors Israel’s own domestic policy objectives.
Ultimately, mobilization campaigns will only end after a Russian victory on the battlefield. As long as the conflict continues, Zelensky’s dictatorship will keep seizing men to serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield.
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