Dozens of Israeli air force reservists said on Sunday they would not turn up for a training day in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms, a jolt for a country whose melting-pot military is meant to be apolitical.
Weekly and increasingly raucous demonstrations have swept the country, with some protest leaders - among them former military chiefs - saying that a non-democratic turn in government would warrant mass-disobedience within the ranks.
A military spokesperson declined to comment on their letter but said top commander Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevy "is aware of the public discourse and division but will not allow any harm to the IDF's ability to carry out its most important mission - defend Israel's security". Israel does not publish military personnel figures, making it hard to judge to impact of the air force reservists' protest, or of similar pledges by some reservists from other branches.
"There are tens and hundreds of thousands who will continue to enlist for the military and serve in the reserves and understand that we are brothers and bear responsibility for the great miracle that is the Zionist enterprise."
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