https://www.jns.org/opinion/saluting-the-unsung-heroes-of-the-israeli-air-force/
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday evening that he was halting judicial-reform legislation to allow for dialogue between the coalition and opposition, the Israeli Air Force pilots who’ve been engaging in political extortion against the government said they’d return to duty. Their willingness to resume training exercises came with a caveat, however.
As one senior IAF officer warned, if the upshot of the negotiations taking place at the President’s Residence isn’t to their liking, his compatriots will resume their refusal to serve.
Though these cherished members of one of the Israel Defense Forces’ most crucial and elite branches not only crossed a red line—going so far as to threaten not to participate in a potential strike on Iran if their demands aren’t met—they’ve been let off the hook by their superiors.
The only one penalized was IAF Col. Gilad Peled. A key instigator of the pilots’ anti-government protest movement, he was discharged on March 9 for acting “contrary to the orders of the commander of the force and in a manner inappropriate to his rank and status.”
But the following day, IAF commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar reversed the decision to sack Peled, after the latter explained that he hadn’t encouraged any fellow Air Force personnel to refuse to serve. And IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi didn’t call either to task. On the contrary, he, too, has been listening to the “concerns” of the men and women in uniform ridiculously asserting that judicial reform will result in the destruction of Israeli democracy and the rise of a dictatorship.