In an open letter of solidarity addressed to the Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre and Kairos in Palestine, the Council of Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), a social arm of the influential Catholic Church in Goa, Father Maverick Fernandes expressed concern over the dehumanization of Israeli youngsters as a result of the mandatory three-year army service.

Pointing towards ignominious acts committed publicly around places in Goa, the CSJP said, “Our study revealed how dehumanised these young people had become and how, because of an oppressive and cruel system of illegal military occupation, even the victimisers had turned casualties and victims of their own cruelties.”