A group of over 250 former Mossad members on Sunday threw their support behind a letter, signed by Israeli Air Force veterans, that called for the government to prioritize the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, even at the cost of ending the war against the terror group.
The signatories to the letter, which was organized by former top hostage negotiator David Meidan, included former chiefs of the security service Danny Yatom, Efraim Halevy and Tamir Pardo.
“We believe the continuation of the fighting endangers the lives of the hostages and our soldiers, and that all options to reach a deal that will bring an end to the suffering must be exhausted,” the letter stated. “We call on the government to make brave decisions and act responsibly for the security of the country and its citizens.”
The former Mossad leaders and employees expressed “full support” for the air force veterans’ letter, saying that it echoes their “deep concern for the future of the country.”
“Every day that passes puts their lives at risk, every additional moment of hesitation is a disgrace,” it added.
A group of some 200 reservist doctors signed onto a similar letter on Sunday. Like the statements from the ex-Mossad operatives and air force veterans, it did not include a call to halt reserve service in protest of the impasse in hostage release talks.
Several other statements of support followed the pilots’ letter, which prompted the military to dismiss signatories still actively serving with the claim that they were using the “Israeli Air Force brand” in a political protest.
“The continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF soldiers and innocent civilians,” read the original air force letter, which was published as an ad in a number of Israeli newspapers.
“As has been proven in the past, only an agreement [with the Hamas terror group] can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers,” it added. “We call on all citizens of Israel to mobilize for action.”
The letter did not call for a general refusal to serve, as had been previously reported.
After the IDF moved to dismiss all active air force reservists who signed the letter last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the decision in a statement, in which he falsely claimed that they had refused to serve.
“Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language,” he said. “Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable.”
That letter had some 1,000 signatures, but the military said that only 60 of those who signed it were active reservists. Among the 60, only a handful were competent pilots, while the rest have been serving in headquarters roles, according to an IDF examination of the signatories.
Netanyahu called the signatories “a group of fringe extremists who are trying once again to break Israeli society from within. They tried to do it before October 7 and Hamas interpreted the refusal calls as a weakness.”
Amid the mass protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plan in 2023, several groups of reservists, including in the IAF, issued statements saying they would refuse to serve under a regime they no longer viewed as democratic. The IDF has said, however, that Hamas had planned the attack at least a year in advance.
Netanyahu accused the signatories of “acting toward one goal — bringing down the government. They don’t represent the soldiers or the public.”
The military recently dismissed at least two reservist officers for refusing to serve, including air force combat navigator Alon Gur, who said he told his superiors that “a line was crossed” and the government was “again abandoning its citizens in broad daylight.”
According to reports, those incidents were seen by the IDF as isolated cases, but a number of senior IDF officials were reportedly concerned that refusal to serve could become a larger phenomenon among reservists.
At the height of the 2023 protests against the judicial overhaul, hundreds of IDF reservists signed declarations saying they would no longer show up for reserve duty to protest the government advancing its plans to curtail the judiciary.
However, when war erupted in Gaza with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and massacres, nearly 300,000 reservists showed up for duty, marking the largest-ever call-up of reservists in Israel’s history.