500 Israeli reserve pilots threaten refusal to serve amid judicial overhaul crisis

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Nearly 500 Israeli reserve pilots consider refraining from showing up for duty in protest of a government plan for judicial overhaul, according to local media on Wednesday.

The move came one day after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) voted to pass a bill in its first reading to curb the powers of the Supreme Court. The bill, however, would require second and third readings in order to be an effective law.

Another bill was also passed that would make it harder to remove the prime minister on corruption charges that still hang over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Reservists, who are a key part of the Israeli army’s routine activities, have threatened not to serve in an undemocratic country, which they charge Israel will become if the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary is realized, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

The calls to refuse reserve duty spread through the military earlier in the year when the government first proposed and advanced its controversial judicial reform plan.

According to public broadcaster KAN, hundreds of Air Force members published a message of support to reserve pilots.

"We will support, without reservation, any of your protest actions, including the immediate cessation of volunteer service," they wrote.

Signatories included representatives of former Air Force Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and former Air Force commander Avihu Ben-Nun.

Israel has been in political turmoil in recent months over the planned judicial reform by the Netanyahu government, which the opposition views as a power grab in favor of executive authority.

The Israeli opposition accuses Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, of using the judicial overhaul to distance away possible judgments against him.

Netanyahu denies the charges and rejects any link between the judicial changes and his own case.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara