The Israeli military has fired Air Force reservists who publicly called for an immediate return of the remaining hostages in Gaza even if it requires an immediate ceasefire, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In a letter published in Israel’s major newspapers, hundreds of Air Force reservists and retirees said the IDF is fighting a war for political purposes without a military goal.
“At this time, the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security interests,” the group wrote. “The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its stated goals and will lead to the death of abductees, IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of reservists.” The letter says the signatures include pilots and air crew. The letter didn’t call for a refusal to serve.
The public letter is another sign of the growing discontent within Israel at the continuation of the war after 18 months and the failure to return the remaining 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Nearly 70% of Israelis support ending the war in exchange as part of a deal to free the remaining hostages, according to a recent poll by Israel’s Channel 12.
Israeli reservists have become increasingly vocal since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas last month and returned to war, feeling the personal and financial strain of multiple tours of reserve duty and questioning the Israeli government’s commitment to negotiating a return of the hostages. The simmering frustration is a potential issue for a military that relies heavily on reservists in wartime.
The IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander decided to fire the reservists who had signed the letter, including those who in active service. It’s unclear how many of the hundreds of signatories are active or reserve, but the IDF said it was analyzing the list to see how many more are still in the military.
“It is impossible for someone who works a shift in (an Air Force) pit to later come out and express a lack of confidence in the mission. This is an impossible anomaly,” the IDF said in a statement. An IDF official said most of the signatories are not active reservists.
Reservist navigator Alon Gur, whose name appears on the letter, was permanently dismissed last month, according to the IDF, after he said on social media that Israel had reached the point where “the state again abandons its citizens in broad daylight” and “where the king becomes more important than the kingdom,” according to widespread reports in Israeli media. Gur, who posted the statement the day Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza, said he had informed his squadron commander that he was leaving the military.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the letter and lauded the decision to fire the signatories.
Netanyahu cast the letter as written by “an extreme fringe group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within.”
“Refusal is refusal—whether it is stated explicitly or disguised in euphemistic language,” he said in a statement.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to quit Netanyahu’s government if the war ends, congratulated the IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander for ousting the “refuseniks” – a term used for those refusing to serve in the military.
“This swift action is essential to make it clear that we will not again accept refusals and calls for rebellion against the IDF,” he wrote on social media.
The move to clamp down on the public protest appeared aimed at stemming increasingly vocal discontent among reservists and preventing a repeat of 2023, when waves of reservists said they would refuse to serve in protest of Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul efforts
Nearly all of those reservists ultimately answered call-ups they received after Israel was attacked on October 7, but that wartime unity has begun to falter as the war has dragged on.