The Commanding Officer of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, responded to the protest letters signed by the force’s reservists and condemned them.
„The messages that appear in a published leaflet express distrust and harm cohesion in the Air Force. Such a publication has no place during a where when IDF soldiers and commanders are sacrificing their lives,“ MG Bar wrote.
„The leaflet weakens the solidarity, it is not appropriate for active reservists to call for the end of the war in which they themselves are participating. We can not allow this in any body that is part of the war. I am forced to work and determine that the active reservists who signed the leaflet can not continue serving in the IDF. It is a painful yet necessary process. We will continue doing this in the future as well.“
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on the letter: „The public no longer buys into their propaganda lies that are so impressive in the media. These letters were not written in the name of our heroic soldiers. They were written by a small group of weeds, who are operated by foreign-funded organizations with one goal – to overthrow the right-wing government.“
He claimed this is not a widespread phenomenon: „This is not a wave. This is not a current. This is a small, noisy, anarchistic, and disconnected group of retirees – most of whom haven’t served in years.“
