The protesters refused to report for active duty in their respective units, a decision that has been taken for months by for pilots and commanders.
On Friday, more than 1,000 Israel Air Force (IAF) reservists announced the same decision in a public letter.
“We represent some 10,000 reservists who are telling the government, the defense minister and the prime minister that the responsibility is theirs,” Eyal Neve, leader of Brothers in Arms, a group made up of reservists who reject the reform, warned.
“Our statement is clear: if the government violates basic values and turns into a dictatorship, we will not serve,” a former pilot was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post.
Former heads of the IDF, Police, Mossad (foreign intelligence service) and Shin Bet (domestic intelligence service) supported yesterday the reservists’ insubordination.
“We hold you responsible for the heavy blow to the IDF and security in Israel,” they wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier last week, the IDF issued a statement saying that despite the reservists’ protest, the army was still ready for a war.
However, Channel 12 reported that the Armed Forces General Staff foresees that if the strike continues, military readiness will be “significantly damaged”. This month, reservists from the Army’s elite unit (the Sayeret Matkal) also announced their rejection to the government proposal, which would restrict the Supreme Court’s ability to reject laws by allowing the Knesset (Parliament) to re-legislate regulations challenged by that body.
The plan would also allow the far-right Executive to control the appointment of judges.
Days earlier, hundreds of IAF reservists, including retired generals, supported in a public letter the refusal of numerous pilots to report for active duty.
Among the signatories of the missive were Dan Halutz and Avihu Ben Nun, former IAF chiefs, and fellow retired generals Gil Regev, Amos Yadlin, Dan Tolkovsky, Nimrod Shefer, Assaf Agmon, Ofer Lapidot and Amir Haskel.
Since the beginning of this year the project generated intense public criticism and fierce opposition in the nation, where mass protests are systematic amid warnings from economists, legal professionals, academics and security officials.
mh/jav/mem/rob
