The IDF announced on Thursday that it will expel hundreds of Air Force reservists who signed an advertisement calling for an end to the war.
Breaking with former IDF chief Herzi Halevi and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who showed sympathy to IDF reservists for such signs of protest as long as they showed up when called to serve, current IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir will toe the line of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the judicial overhaul.
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 of 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.
During the Halevi-Gallant era, there were a small number of reservists who were expelled, but only if they permanently refused a callup 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 fine, given that it has tens of thousands of members.
However, the IDF did not provide actual numbers of how many reservists who will be expelled are active.
Further, the IDF declined to answer questions about comparing its policy to the policy under Halevi-Gallant, to Netanyahu’s battle with Shin Bet Chief 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.
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.
Former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz signed the letter
Among the signatories of the letter are former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and former Major General Nimrod Shafir.
The letter caused a storm within the Air Force, with Air Force Commander Major General 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 IDF Zamir in attendance.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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