The IDF will expel hundreds of air force reservists who signed an advertisement calling for an end to the war, it announced on Thursday.
Breaking with former chief Herzi Halevi and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who showed sympathy to reservists for such signs of protest as long as they showed up when called to serve, current Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir will toe the line of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies.
While the specific letter mentioned the war, those involved in the letter are also part of a broader opposition to Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul as well as his ongoing efforts to fire Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar.
Only 60 of those who signed the letter are actively serving in the reserves, and of those, the number of pilots is in the single digits.
Zamir’s view is that no matter how controversial Netanyahu’s policies may be, these are policies decided by the lawfully elected government of Israel and the IDF, and its reservists are forbidden from taking any public position on these issues.
In contrast, Halevi and Gallant were highly critical of using public protests against reservist service to pressure the government to back off from its judicial overhaul but were so concerned that Netanyahu’s policy could wreck the army’s readiness that they took a much more lenient approach to public protests.
Are reservists serving?
During the Halevi-Gallant era, there were a small number of reservists who were expelled, but only if they permanently refused a call-up after multiple changes to be called up, not for public threats.
Those defense officials credited their middle-of-the-road policy with keeping the army from falling apart in 2023 and slammed Netanyahu for pushing through a judicial overhaul, which they said undermined military readiness, including leading into the October 7 invasion by Hamas.
The IDF said on Thursday that a majority of the reservists due to be expelled are not serving actively and that the air force will function well, given that it has tens of thousands of members.
However, the army did not provide actual numbers of how many reservists who will be expelled are active.
Further, the IDF declined to answer questions comparing its policy to the policy under Halevi-Gallant or to Netanyahu’s battle with Ronen Bar, which many in the defense establishment view as the political echelon improperly intervening in the defense establishment’s independence, nor did it address the concerns of pilots that the judicial overhaul is leaving them more vulnerable to war crimes charges before the International Criminal Court.
Still, in support of the IDF claims that most of the reservists are not currently serving, a number of centrist Israeli officials refrained from weighing in on the episode, indicating that this was the wrong moment and tactic for opposing Netanyahu’s policies, especially since those signing the letter were not critical fighter pilots.
Defense Minister Israel Katz responded to the situation, saying, “I completely reject the letter of air force reservists and the attempt to harm the legitimacy of this just war which the IDF is leading in Gaza in order to free the hostages and to defeat the murderous terror organization Hamas.
“I trust the discretion of the IDF chief and the air force chief and am sure they will deal with this improper phenomenon in the right way.”
Despite Katz sending out his statement after the IDF had already held a briefing about how aggressive it would be against the reservists, it is widely known that Katz was pressing strongly for the IDF to take a harsh response.
Netanyahu responds
Netanyahu himself painted those involved in the letter as on the margins of society and said that most Israelis supported the renewed invasion of Gaza.
In fact, polling has been very dynamic regarding the war, often depending on whether the public believed that a longer or shorter war would be better at retrieving the hostages.
Reserve and retired Israel Air Force pilots published on Thursday a signed statement in paid newspaper ads demanding the immediate return of the Gaza hostages, even if it required suspending the fighting.
“The war serves political and personal interests; only an agreement will ensure the safe return of the kidnapped,” they stated.
Among the signatories of the letter are former chief of staff Dan Halutz and Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nimrod Shafir.
The letter caused a storm within the air force, with the commander of the IAF, Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar, threatening that anyone who signs the letter will not be able to continue serving in the reserves.
This is despite the fact that the letter did not include a threat of refusal or cessation of reserve service.
Bar was most troubled by the political statement in particular and met with corps commanders in recent days to discuss the issue, with Zamir in attendance.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report