Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, in coordination with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, stated on Thursday that the reservists who signed a letter against the war in Gaza will be dismissed from active reserve duty.
About 950 Air Force reservists, the vast majority of whom are retired, signed a letter against the war that was published as a full-page ad on Thursday morning in several leading media outlets. Only 10% of the signatories are active reservists, most of them volunteers. Most of the signatories, if not all, were those who had opposed the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu before October 7.
The letter was published despite the fact that the impending publication of the letter was brought to the attention of the Air Force leadership in recent days, and Air Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar convened several meetings with those leading the initiative to try to prevent the letter’s publication. Zamir joined one of the meetings and said: “Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. I expect you to stand behind the Air Force.”
Following the meetings, dozens of reservists withdrew their signatures from the letter.
The letter states: “We, reserve and former Air Force personnel, demand the immediate return of the hostages—even if it requires an immediate cessation of hostilities. At this time, the war serves primarily political and personal interests, not security ones. Continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, while further eroding the strength of the reserve forces.”
“As has been proven in the past, only an agreement can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers. We call on all citizens of Israel to mobilize for action and demand in every way: stop the fighting and bring the hostages home—now. Every day that passes endangers their lives. Every moment of hesitation is a disgrace.”
The IDF stated on Thursday morning in response to the letter: “We are in a multi-front war in which the IDF acts solely for practical and professional considerations to fulfill the goals of the war, centered on the return of the hostages. The policy is to keep the IDF above all controversy, and it cannot accept a situation in which service members use their position to oppose the war and at the same time take part in it. A service member can’t emerge from the command center and then express distrust in his commanders and the goals of the war. This is an impossible anomaly.”
“The Air Force Commander decided, with the full backing of the Chief of Staff, that an active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving in the IDF. Politics does not exist in the IDF and the IDF is outside the political debate.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he supports the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff in their decision to dismiss the signatories of the letter. “Refusal is refusal – even when it is said implicitly and in euphemistic language,” Netanyahu stated.
“Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable. This is an extreme fringe group that is again trying to tear apart Israeli society from within. They already tried to do it before October 7 and Hamas interpreted the calls for refusal as weakness. This noisy fringe group is activated for one purpose – to overthrow the government. It does not represent the soldiers or the public. The IDF is in battle – and we are all behind it.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
Pathetic, they couldn’t come up with a more coherent excuse as to why the government must be immediately overthrown in their great wisdom?? (all in the name of democracy, of course)
“the war serves primarily political and personal interests” that’s the same drivel they repeat every time!!! it’s getting boring already, let them at the very least make up something more original
These people are probably simply on the payroll of the EU or Biden, or maybe even Iran
There should be an immediate investigation as to who is really behind this, and all the other anarchistic attempts to destroy the whole country whenever the elected government dares to make a decision that doesn’t find favour in their eyes
The question is if Shin Bet is non-political enough to do such a thing