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Over 1,000 Israeli Air Force Personnel to Suspend Reserve Duty if Netanyahu's Judicial Coup Continues [1]

['Yaniv Kubovich']

Date: 2023-07-21

Over 1,000 Israeli Air Force personnel, including hundreds of pilots, announced on Friday that they will suspend their reserve duty if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government continues with its plans to vastly overhaul the country's judiciary.

"The [judicial overhaul] legislation, which allows the government to act in an extremely unreasonable manner, will harm the security of the State of Israel, will break the trust and violate our consent to continue risking our lives – and will very sadly leave us with no choice but to refrain from volunteering for reserve duty," a letter penned by 1,142 reserve officers read. It was sent to Knesset members, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi and IAF Commander Tomer Bar.

The number of signatories to the letter shows that if they follow through with their warnings, the Air Force will no longer be in a state of operational preparedness for war. The organizers carefully collected the signatures recently and verified that the signatories do indeed hold the roles that they reported.

Among the signatories are 235 fighter pilots, 98 transport pilots, 89 helicopter pilots, 91 pilots serving in the flight school and 165 elite Air Force commandos.

In the letter, reservists appealed to the coalition members and urged them to "reach broad agreements" and "strengthen the trust" of everyone in the judiciary. They emphasized that "legislation that affects the Jewish or the democratic nature of the State of Israel must be carried out with dialogue and broad public consensus."

Open gallery view Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right), IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi and Tomer Bar in June. Credit: Arielle Hermoni / Defense Ministry

The decision to publish the letter publicly on Friday afternoon follows much deliberation; the pilots and navigators estimated that it would lead to a wave of criticism from the right, including personal attacks. Despite this, they felt that they had no other choice, and that their maneuver is the democratic camp's last chance to halt the government's judicial overhaul legislation.

"Our situation is similar to that of the even before the Yom Kippur War," said one high-ranking officer in the reserves who was involved in the initiative. "Our expectation is that the top brass, the chief of staff and the Air Force commander, will now bang on the table and warn the politicians of the expected consequences if they let this thing happen."

In an address on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the growing wave of reservists who have said they will not report for duty because of the government's legislation. Netanyahu said that "in a democracy, the military is subordinate to the government, and does not compel the government."

Open gallery view Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the press conference, on Thursday. Credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO

He claimed that "amending the reasonableness standard will only strengthen democracy, and certainly not endanger it. What will endanger democracy is refusal to serve in the military." According to Netanyahu, "when military figures try to threaten to dictate the government's policies, it is unacceptable in any democracy, and if they manage to make good on their threats, that is the end of democracy."

Other government ministers and some members of the opposition, as well as the IDF chief Herzl Halevi and IAF Chief Tomer Bar joined Netanyahu in criticizing threats to refuse reserve duty.

Earlier this week, government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Miki Zohar shared a fictional video depicting Air Force pilots refusing to provide air support to ground troops under attack unless they condemned the government’s controversial judicial overhaul. IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari issued a scathing denunciation of the video, stating that its purpose was “to create internal division within the IDF, which deserves all condemnation.”

Following reports of the Air Force personnel's letter, Ben-Gvir tweeted "everything seen in the video is true. Refusal to serve is a danger to the country."

The IAF reserve personnel's refusal follows threats from IDF reservists across the board to suspend their volunteer service should the government enact the judicial overhaul legislation. On Wednesday, 50 reserve officers in the 8200 elite cyber intelligence unit announced that they would no longer show up for reserve duty. These officers provide combat units with real-time intelligence, and accompany elite units and help them communicate in the field.

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[1] Url: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-21/ty-article/over-1-000-israeli-air-force-personnel-to-suspend-reserve-duty-if-judicial-coup-continues/00000189-782c-d09f-a3a9-ffad0a150000

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