Israel's army says it will fire air force reservists who condemned the
war
[April 11, 2025]
By SAM MEDNICK
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's military said Friday it will fire air
force reservists who signed a letter condemning the war in Gaza and
accusing it of only serving political interests and not bringing the
hostages home.
In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was
no room for any body or individual, including reservists in active duty,
“to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in
the fighting,” calling it a breach of trust between commanders and
subordinates.
The army said it decided that any active reservist who signed the letter
will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people
that included or if the firings had begun.
Nearly 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists and retirees signed a letter,
published in Israeli media Thursday, demanding the immediate return of
the hostages, even at the cost of ending the fighting.
The letter comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza, trying to
pressure Hamas to agree to free hostages, 59 of whom are still being
held, more than half of which are dead. Israel's imposed a blockade on
food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute
shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of
the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through
it.
While the soldiers who signed the letter didn’t refuse to keep serving,
it’s part of a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against
the 18-month conflict, some saying they saw or did things that crossed
ethical lines.
“It’s completely illogical and irresponsible on behalf of the Israeli
policy makers … risking the lives of the hostages, risking the lives of
more soldiers and risking lives of many many more innocent Palestinians,
while it had a very clear alternative,” Guy Poran, a retired Israeli Air
Force pilot who spearhead the letter told The AP.
He said he's not aware of anyone who signed the letter being fired, and
since it was published, it has gained dozens more signatures.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the letter on
Friday, saying it was written by a “small handful of weeds, operated by
foreign-funded NGOs whose sole goal is to overthrow the right-wing
government.” He said anyone who encourages refusal will be immediately
dismissed.
Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak
out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,
Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the militant
group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most
criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the
failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.
Advocates for hostage return keep up the pressure
Freed hostages and their families are doing what they can to keep
attention on their plight, and urge the government to get everyone out.
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Palestinian women walk past a poster showing Waleed Ahmad that reads
in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our
righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of
Ramallah, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
For Holocaust Remembrance Day this year, Agam Berger, a military
spotter who was taken hostage and freed in January, will perform at
a March of the Living Ceremony in Poland — a yearly memorial march
at the site of Auschwitz that honors the 6 million Jews killed by
Nazi Germany and celebrates the state of Israel.
Berger will play a 130-year-old violin that survived the Holocaust
and was brought to Israel, at the main ceremony in the Birkenau
concentration camp. She’ll be accompanied by singer, Daniel Weiss, a
resident of Kibbutz Be’eri whose parents were murdered on Oct. 7.
Still, the war in Gaza shows no signs of slowing.
Since Israel ended an eight-week ceasefire last month, it said it
will push further into Gaza until Hamas releases the hostages. More
than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire
collapsed, according to the United Nations.
The Israeli military on Friday issued an urgent warning to residents
in several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, calling on them to
evacuate immediately. Strikes earlier this week killed at least 23
people, health officials said, including eight women and eight
children.
Brazil pushes for the release of body of teen who died in Israeli
custody
Also this week, Brazil's Embassy in the West Bank said it had
requested the immediate release of the body of a 17-year-old
Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody.
A representative from Brazil's office in Ramallah, told the AP it
was helping the family speed up the process to bring Walid Ahmad's
body home. Ahmad had a Brazilian passport.
According to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy, starvation
was likely the primary cause of his death.
Ahmad had been held for six months without being charged. He was
extremely malnourished and also showed signs of inflammation of the
colon and scabies, said a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who
watched the autopsy, conducted by Israeli experts, at the request of
the boy’s family.
Israel’s prison service said it operates according to the law and
all prisoners are given basic rights.
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