Edited by: TJVNews.com

A plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to severely curtail the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court has prompted weeks of demonstrations, rattled the country’s technology sector and raised fears of political violence but now protests are emerging even within the nation’s military, according to a report by Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley in the New York Times.

Hundreds of soldiers in the military reserves either have signed letters expressing a reluctance to participate in nonessential duty or have already pulled out of training missions, officials said, the NYT reported. The affected units include the 8200 division that deals with signal and cyberintelligence and whose graduates have helped drive the country’s tech industry, as well as elite combat units.

The NYT also reported that the military leadership fears that growing anger within the ranks over the government’s plans will affect the operational readiness of Israel’s armed forces, according to senior military officials.

It is most concerned about unrest within the Air Force, with reserve duty pilots increasingly upset over the government plans, the officials said, as was reported in the NYT. They also fear that they may be asked to engage in illegal operations, and that restraints on Israel’s judiciary may strengthen foreign calls to prosecute them in the International Criminal Court, the officials said, according to the Times report. Reserve duty pilots often lead Israel’s regular airstrikes on Syria and the Gaza Strip, and would be involved in any major Israeli attack on nuclear facilities in Iran.

Nearly 50 squadron leaders representing hundreds of reserve pilots met on Friday with the head of the Israeli Air Force to express their misgivings about the government’s judicial overhaul efforts, according to five Israeli military officials who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it and who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, the NYT reported. The pilot corps is overwhelmingly staffed by reservists who usually report for duty three or four times a month.

The NYT also reported that thirty-seven pilots from a key F-15 fighter jet squadron later wrote to the Air Force chief to say they would pull out of training for part of this week, while stressing that they remained available for combat missions, according to three officials briefed on the letter.

World Israel News reported that opposition member and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who himself has accused Netanyahu of carrying out a “coup” and called for mass protests over the reform, begged the reservists to show up for duty, saying they should show up “no matter what.”

Earlier this month, Zeev Raz, a former Israel Air Force fighter pilot and leader of the protest movement against the reform, called for the assassination Netanyahu, WIN reported.

World Israel News also reported on Monday that the former commanders of the Israel Air Force penned an open letter Monday to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, warning that the government’s judicial reform plan could have serious consequences for the IAF.

The letter was signed by all 10 living former commanders of the Israel Air Force, including 102-year-old Dan Tolkowsky, who commanded the IAF from 1953 to 1958, WIN reported.

Amikam Norkin, the most recent IAF commander to step down, following the end of his tenure in April 2022, also signed onto the letter, the report indicated.  Of the 14 men who headed the IAF in the past, only four were not listed in the letter – all of them deceased.

WIN also reported that the signatories wrote that they felt “deep concern regarding the processes which are occurring in the State of Israel and in the air force during this time period.”

“From a deep knowledge of the centrality and uniqueness of the air force to the country’s national security, which you also know well, we are trembling at the consequences of these processes and to the grave and concrete danger which this represents to the national security of the State of Israel.”

World Israel News also reported on Monday that pilots from Israel’s national El Al airline refused to fly Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, out to Rome for an official visit in apparent protest over the plans for judicial reform, prompting the prime minister’s office to issue a tender to competing airlines.

None of the pilots or flight attendant crew had volunteered to staff the plane ahead of a 2 p.m. deadline for the tender, El Al said, as was reported by World Israel News.

Later in the evening, the airline company announced that it had found a crew to fly the first couple out to Italy.

“The issue of manning the prime minister’s flight is yet to be resolved due to a shortage of qualified pilots in our Boeing 777 squadron, among other reasons,” a statement by the airline said after the deadline expired.

“We are working to man this flight…in accordance with company procedures, as we have done countless times before,” El Al wrote, as was reported by World Israel News.  “Since its establishment, El Al has flown heads of state for important national missions and will continue to do so in the future, as it is required.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced she would open tenders to other Israeli airlines including Arkia and Israir, Hebrew-language media reported.

Netanyahu is slated to meet with his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni.

JNS.org reported that Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and National Unity Party chief Benny Gantz rejected on Monday any negotiations over the government’s judicial reform proposal unless the accompanying legislative process grinds to a complete halt.

“All our outreach for the sake of Israeli unity has been met with rejection and refusal. Israel stands at the threshold of a national emergency, and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu refuses to stop,” Lapid and Gantz said in a joint statement, as was reported by JNS.

“We greatly respect and appreciate the efforts of the president to reach broad talks and agreements. But in order to hold honest and effective negotiations that will lead to the preservation of democracy and the unity of the people, Netanyahu must announce a complete, comprehensive and genuine halt to the legislative process. All attempts at shortcuts fly in the face of real dialogue,” they added.

JNS also reported that Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier Monday told a gathering of some 100 municipal officials that a compromise judicial reform proposal was nearly complete, and called on lawmakers to find common ground.

“I have already said that it is absolutely legitimate to discuss reforming the judicial system, and aspects of the proposal are indeed advisable. In the last few weeks, I have done everything in my power to bring about discussion and enable the sides to reach an agreement,” Herzog said, as was reported by JNS.

“We are closer than ever to the possibility of an outline. There are agreements behind the scenes on most things,” he continued. “Now it depends on our national leadership, the coalition and the opposition, who need to rise to the occasion and understand the terrible alternative and put the country and its citizens above everything else.”

(Additional reporting by: Fern Sidman)