Posted on 07/11/23
| News Source: JPost
The IDF reservist protest movement was back in full swing on Tuesday following the Knesset’s Monday night approval of a first reading of the government’s repeal of the judiciary’s reasonableness doctrine, with IDF intelligence Unit 8200 and the air force leading the way.
300 members of the IDF’s various cyber and technology arms signed a letter saying that they were no longer bluffing and that they would now refuse to show up for reserve duty when called.
This could be the furthest that these officials have gone to date since the last battle over the government’s judicial reform policy in March stopped at a point before the reservists’ self-declared line had been crossed.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant late Tuesday night again went on the attack against protesting reservists calling for refusal to serve saying they were "giving a prize to our enemies." He added that only an "unqualified showing up to accomplish any assigned mission," could maintain the IDF and guarantee Israel's security.
Alongside the above developments, IDF Air Force Chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar late Monday night met with dozens of senior IDF air force reservists to try to quell or mitigate their call to avoid showing up for duty as a group.
Bar thanked them for participating in recent operations in the West Bank and Gaza, Syria and elsewhere and implored them not to publicly call for refusing duty.
Rather, he told them that he hoped they would bite their lips, feel free to protest the government out of uniform, but still all show up for duty because Israel’s enemies and its national security could never go on strike.
In addition, the air force chief requested that if anyone felt a need to reuse duty, that he do so quietly, individually and directly with his commander.
Bar did not say that refusal would be ignored, and implied there could be penalties in terms of continued service, but did suggest that especially temporary refusals handled quietly might be handled with more patience.