As Military Reservists Threaten To Stop Serving, Debate in Israel Rages
It is the time of year in the Jewish calendar called “Bein hametzarim” or “Between the straits,” a period of mourning, commemorating the destruction of the two Jewish temples in Jerusalem. Those of faith believe the Second Temple was destroyed due to hatred among the Jewish people. The destruction led to a long exile from the biblical land of Israel.
Fast forward to 2023: As the Jewish state is torn between supporters of the current government and its very vocal opponents, many are warning of impending destruction. While both sides feud, they also caution that the heated discourse in the country could lead to a deep scar that will never heal.
This scar becomes even deeper as the talk of military reserve service increases. Once a consensus, the armed forces have become a hot topic dividing society.
Hundreds of reservists, including fighter pilots and members of elite combat and cyber units, have signed letters announcing they would no longer volunteer for service if the legislation continues.
As the government continues to progress in the legislation of the contentious judicial overhaul, the protest among military reservists appears to be spreading, as a heated debate ensues.
There are thousands of us. We will not serve under a dictatorship.
“There are thousands of us,” said Oren Shvilli, a former military officer who continues to volunteer for reserve duty at the age of 52. “We will not serve under a dictatorship.”
Last week Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was quoted in the local press as saying, “The country can handle being without pilots, it cannot handle being without a government.” This came just days after the parliament gave its initial approval for one of the main laws of the overhaul, a law that bars Israeli courts from using the “reasonability standard” in order review decisions made by the government, cabinet ministers and other elected officials.
The final approval of the law is expected next week.
“From there on, there will be a quick deterioration and the whole public service will become political,” said Shvilli. “Afterwards, the government will be able to legislate a series of laws with the sole goal of changing the way the regime works.”
There are also concerns among the soldiers that they will be subject to prosecution abroad. With Israel controlling Palestinian territories largely against international consensus, its judicial system is often the only barrier between the country and its soldiers from facing court hearings in other countries.
“There is real concern among the reservists that there will no longer be a democratic system that guarantees the orders they are receiving are legal,” said Dr. Idit Shafran Gittleman, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies.
According to Rami Sadeh, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and a former soldier in the air force, the protest is much smaller than the media portrays.
“We are talking about a small minority that has access to the media and wants to make it seem like it’s a wide phenomenon,” said Sadeh, who works as an attorney. “What they are doing is undemocratic, the government won by a majority and it needs to be allowed to govern.”
If the government continues with its plans, part of the overhaul will include changing the status of the legal opinion of the attorney general and the legal councils of ministries from binding to non-binding. This will allow ministers, including the prime minister, to act in opposition to the legal advice and hire private lawyers to represent them and their policies in court if needed. It also includes changing the status of judicial review in the country. The current status allows the supreme court to overturn any laws approved in the Knesset. The Netanyahu government is looking to curtail that significantly.
Opponents of the overhaul believe that the changes will harm the checks and balances that safeguard democracy.
“The reservists feel that the contract between them and the country has been nullified, that the country is no longer democratic and they cannot rely on independent legal counsel,” said Shafran Gittleman, “They feel that by sending these letters they are protecting the country just as they had protected it when they undertook risky combat missions.”
“This is not some small struggle; this is a struggle on the identity of the country,” she added.
Indeed, the discourse about the reservists and their protest has sparked a raucous debate that has exposed many divisions within Israeli society.
For decades, military service in Israel has been viewed as both a civic duty and a rite of passage. Politicians, citizens, and military brass tried to keep it above and outside of any political debate, not always successfully.
“Never in the history of the state was there legitimacy for such calls to not defend the Jewish people in the name of a strange claim that they will not serve under certain types of rule or government,” said Cpt. (res.) Aviad Gadot, CEO of Torat Lechima, an NGO that seeks to strengthen the Jewish identity within the military and defense establishment. “Israel is a Jewish state and the army is meant to protect it in the hostile neighborhood we are in. There is only one army that can do this and conditioning the safety of Israel on a political issue is very severe.”
The pilots’ protest strikes a chord in one of Israel’s touchiest spots, the disparity between rich and poor, between Jews of European descent and those of African or Middle Eastern descent. The debate on judicial reform has turned into a discussion about the classes in Israeli society, uncovering years of mutual resentment.
“A pilot cannot fly without a mechanic who arms and fuels his jet,” said Sadeh. “This is an elitist group that thinks the country cannot exist without them. They have no right to do this.”
For many supporters of the government, reforms are needed in order for it to implement right-wing policy, even though the right and Netanyahu himself have been in power for long.
“For many years, we have voted right and got leftist policies,” said Gadot. “This is because we are under a dictatorship of the courts.”
Pilots are considered the cream of the crop in the military. Together with soldiers and officers who serve in elite combat units, they receive many financial benefits for their service and sacrifice, while often putting their life at risk and at a high personal cost. They have been accused by government supporters of taking advantage of their position.
“I served in the military and continue to volunteer for reserve duty, I work and pay income tax, where exactly am I more privileged than others?” asked Shvilli, who now is part of the Brothers in Arms, an organization that has been behind the protests of military reservists. Shvilli announced that once the law regarding the reasonability standard passes the final readings, he will no longer perform his reserve duty.
When the government announced at the beginning of this year that it intends to implement sweeping reforms, there was immediate backlash. After weeks of demonstrations, Netanyahu announced he was freezing the legislation and entering talks to reach a compromise with the opposition. Back then, the reservist pilots also threatened to stop showing up for training. It is believed that this, more than any other threat that was on the table, was what led the Israeli leader to freeze his plans, despite mounting pressure from his own camp that demanded he continue.
After weeks of negotiations, the coalition and the opposition failed to reach an agreement on the judge selection committee – another contentious component of the reform – and the talks collapsed. Netanyahu and his coalition then resumed the one-sided legislation, using the parliamentary majority they had, without seeking a broader consensus.
It is hard to exaggerate the role reservists play in the Israeli military, especially among combat pilots. Israeli Jews are obligated by law to serve in the military at 18 years of age. The army is a melting pot of many parts of society, not including Israeli Arabs and ultra-orthodox Jews who are exempt from service. Upon completing their compulsory service, they enter the reserves and are called up for annual training and can be immediately called up in case of emergency. Only a small fraction of people shows up for reserve duty and if those now strike, the army’s preparedness for combat will be reduced. Reserve pilots usually train once a week quickly exceeding the amount of obligatory days for reserve duty, doing the extra days on a volunteer basis. They are the backbone of the air force, behind many of the airstrikes that are attributed to Israel on a daily basis in the Middle East, mainly in Syria.
The Jewish period of mourning will end next week with a day of fasting in which observant Jews commemorate and mourn historical tragedies.
“The division between us will bring more destruction,” said Shvilli. “We can argue, but right now the government’s actions come at a great price.”
If the government will cave into the pressure, the destruction of our temple will begin
On the other side, there are also warnings of destruction.
“If the government will cave into the pressure, the destruction of our temple will begin,” said Rami Sadeh, who believes Israel will then spiral into a major crisis.
When both sides feel their existence hangs in the balance, the stakes couldn’t be any higher.
