On Monday this week, Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s security service Shin Bet, challenged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire him in the country’s Supreme Court, blocking it – at least temporarily. He was supported in his claim by a number of civic groups and former military generals, including the former senior air commander Nimrod Sheffer, stating that Netanyahu wanted to get rid of him after suspecting that Bar was not loyal to him.
The Shin Bet chief provided the court with classified documents showing that Netanyahu wished to turn the agency into his private secret police, like those in some dictatorial regimes. Bar also wrote in his affidavit what many Israelis believe: that Netanyahu and his right-wing government are ready to sacrifice the 59 hostages who remain in Gaza in order to stay in power.
As the war in Gaza drags on, the public is beginning to feel a strong sense of déjà vu
Bar’s allegations that Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political gain are just the latest to emerge from Israel’s military establishment. First came the pilots. Earlier this month, a group of retired air force personnel wrote an open letter opposing the bloody war in Gaza and calling for the remaining Israeli hostages to be released. It was signed by around 1,000 people. The pilots set out their demands clearly:
We, reserve and retired aircrew fighters, demand the immediate return home of the hostages, without delay – even at the cost of ending the war immediately. At this time, the war primarily serves political and personal interests, not security interests. Continuing the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals and will lead to the deaths of the hostages, IDF soldiers, and innocent civilians…We call on all Israeli citizens to mobilise for action. To demand, everywhere and by every means: stop the war and bring the hostages home – now!!!! Every day that passes puts their lives at risk. Every additional moment of hesitation is a disgrace.
The pilots’ letter was inspiring. Over the past two weeks, their message has swept through the military, the intelligence and the security communities and civilian sectors. Personnel from Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel’s intelligence services, wrote their own version. After them, the paratroopers and the infantry. The armed corps were joined by the special forces, navy commandos and police officers. Medical doctors, artists, writers and academics joined the protest, which currently exists less on the streets of Israel and more in the written word.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 have written and signed similar letters. Yet, what is no less important than numbers is the quality and the positions held by the signatories. Among them are former commanders of the air force, army generals, navy admirals, heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet, police commissioners and Nobel prize laureates.
To save face, Netanyahu has tried to pretend that it is ‘business as usual’ and that ‘nothing has changed’. His response is typical of a leader who heads up a cult of believers, convinced that he is Israel’s saviour and completely deaf to the feelings of the clear majority of the public. He dismissed the pilots who authored the original letter as ‘frustrated retirees’.
But, in reality, Netanyahu is really concerned that tens of thousands of Israelis will refuse to serve with the IDF in Gaza, and participate in a revolt.
This is the reason why the Air Force Commander Major-General Tomer Bar (no relation to Ronen) and the newly nominated Chief of Staff Lt.-General Eyal Zamir felt compelled to respond to the protests. They tried to persuade its leaders to withdraw their letters in mid April, arguing that Israel, in a war on several fronts, can not allow itself the luxury of an echo of America’s draft dodgers during the Vietnam war. When this failed, Zamir and Bar resorted to threatening and eventually discharged dozens of the reservists ‘rebels’ from the IDF, among them General Sheffer, a decorated pilot and commander. That only strengthened the protestors’ motivation and determination to carry on.
The Israeli military numbers over half a million servicemen, but about two-thirds of them are reservists. Without the reservists, the army would struggle to sustain its brutal campaign in Gaza, which has also involved war crimes. A significant portion of the reservists – especially in the Air Force and intelligence agencies – are volunteers.
Since its independence in 1948 and thanks to the fact that the country has since then found itself continuously existentially threatened by Arab states, as well as by Iran in the last two decades, Israeli cohesion and patriotic spirit have been among the strongest in the world. With the exception of the ultra-orthodox community, the number of cases of refusal to serve in the army and pacifism have remained very low.
That began to change in early 2023, when Netanyahu was re-elected and formed the most extreme right-wing and ultra-Orthodox government in the country’s history. He brought in controversial ministers who have in the past expressed terrorist sympathies, such as National Security Minister Itamar ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advocate for Jewish racial supremacy and openly promote the expulsion of Palestinians and the annexation of the occupied territories.
Against this backdrop and his desire to strengthen his position as an all-powerful ruler, Netanyahu supported moves aimed at regime change, undermining Israel’s democracy. He has tirelessly attempted to control the judiciary, the media, the army and the security services since he came back to power. The liberal camp’s response was massive: millions took to the streets calling for his removal. Many pilots and reservists declared that if Israel’s democratic character were to change, they would refuse to serve.
Hamas’s cruel invasion of Israel on 7 October temporarily halted this trend and reignited a sense of shared destiny and solidarity. For a moment, this overcame the deep divides and polarisation of Israeli society. But under the cover of war, Netanyahu has further intensified his efforts to consolidate his power. As the war in Gaza drags on, and as Netanyahu refuses to end it – which would prompt his government to fall – the public is beginning to feel a strong sense of déjà vu.
‘Netanyahu is interested in prolonging the war,’ I was told by a senior Mossad operative who signed the petition, ‘to create a sense of emergency in order to solidify his power. This is his true goal and not security concerns.’
The big enigma now is whether Israel will witness the wrath of battle-weary soldiers – who no longer believe in the necessity of the war they are being asked to sacrifice their lives for.
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