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Israeli reservist pilots urge a halt to the Gaza war and the release of hostages
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Apr 11, 2025
In an open letter, more than 1,000 reservist pilots in the Israeli army called for an end to the war in Gaza and urged that the release of the hostages be made a top priority. A senior army official responded by suggesting that all signatories of the letter should be dismissed. Benjamin Netanyahu supports this dismissal, stating that these veterans are trying to weaken the country.
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Nearly 1,000 Israeli retired and reservist fighter pilots wrote an open letter calling for the government to prioritize freeing the remaining hostages held in Gaza, even if that meant halting the war against Hamas
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An Israeli military official said who signed that document would be dismissed from the Air Force
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Here to tell us more is Shirley Sitman. Hello to you, Shirley. This is not the first time that a letter from Israeli soldiers has been written calling for an end to the war
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But this one was signed by more people, even a former chief of staff. Tell us specifically, what are these pilots saying
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Well, they're saying that the war is counterproductive, saying that it's not helping to save Israeli hostages held by Hamas
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but on the contrary is leading to their death because every time that hostages have been released
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so far was largely in general part was when there was an exchange, a deal
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And so these people are saying this is a call to go back and to go buy the deal that there and do an exchange a swap stop the bombing It useless They also saying that it not weakening Hamas either because there been months and months of war more than 18 months and yet Hamas is still there The Israeli army
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itself believes that it has up to 25,000 fighters. It's still very strong. Some of the tunnels were
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destroyed, but only a minority say some of these commanders. And yes, you talked about a chief of
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staff, indeed, Dan Halutz, former pilot, head of the Israeli Air Force, and also chief of staff
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He's among those who signed this. Also, when you say what they are saying, they're saying that there are political motives and personal motives behind the ongoing war now, pointing towards Netanyahu without citing his name, without saying his name
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What they're not calling for in this letter is to disobey. They're saying, we will come up and show up for duty
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We're not calling to desert army ranks. We're not doing that. So they're very cautious with their wording, direct about the Israeli government's intentions
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direct about the fact that the war is counterproductive and is killing
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and at the same time being cautious. We're not calling to disobey, showing that they're responsible
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Yeah direct but cautious And despite that approach there been calls for them to be dismissed from the military And that would be different from what we saw in previous letters when the pilots returned to duty
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Why a different reaction now? Yes, when you look at the pilots, they had a big movement before the war
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Some 230 of them at the time did not show up for their service
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And at the time, it wasn't linked to the war, but linked to the reform of the Israeli judiciary
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saying that Israel is becoming an authoritarian country and they were against it
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As I said, it was dangerous. That's why they didn't show up. And at the time, the Air Force convinced them to come back
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That was the idea, not dismissing them, but bringing them back. Today is completely different. Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for their dismissal
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He says he backs the Air Force decision to dismiss them. He says they're extremists. They're threatening the country's unity. Their goal is to weaken, to divide
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And also some people on the right have even called to strip them of their ranks and their medals and to take away their pensions
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A different situation today from what was what was happening before the war
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There were other groups that also signed letters Not as many people Medics some 250 medics last month signed a letter against the war also saying that it not legal for Israel to operate and not ethical to operate in that area
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in this way. And also, a new letter is coming up from ex-naval officers, former ones, not ones who
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are currently active. Now, in this letter, they do mention the loss of Palestinian lives. They
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Don't say the word Palestinian. Yes. And I heard an interview today with two of the former generals, retired generals, who initiated that letter
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And a journalist asked them, they said, well, you're criticized for mentioning innocent civilians being killed
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Are you referring to Palestinians? And why did you include that sentence
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And they were both interviewed at the same time live. And they were like, what do you mean
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I mean, do you think it's a good thing that Palestinian civilians are also being killed in this war
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Of course, it's negative. And since the war, according to us, is counter effective
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killing is not helping Israel in any way. It's counter, I mean, it harms Israel's interests
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Well, of course, we need to say that it's also killing Palestinians who are innocent as well
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Not just civilians, but many, many civilians. All right, Shirley. Thank you very much, Shirley Sitman
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