PNN – An Israeli soldier wrote an open letter to his fellow soldiers telling them not to be fooled by the claims of the Netanyahu government. The American website The New Yorker also described the recruitment situation in the Israeli army as extremely critical in a report.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, a wave of disobedience has broken out among the regime’s reserve forces following growing dissatisfaction with the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. According to Hebrew media reports, a significant number of army reservists have refused to join the new call-up.
In this regard, “Eran Tamir”, an infantryman of the Israeli army who had been deployed to operational areas four times over the past year and a half, announced in an open letter that he would not participate in the new ground operation in Gaza.
In this letter, which was published on the Walla news website, he explicitly stated: The government will say that this operation is to free the hostages, or that it is a war of survival and resurrection, and that this time Hamas will be destroyed – but these are deceptions. He emphasized: It is perfectly legitimate to reject a war whose stated goals are pure lies. It is legitimate to reject a war that is our moral low point.
Tamir also warned other reservists that they might be labeled as “strengthening Hamas” or “encouraging further killings,” but described such accusations as “crazy” and baseless in the current circumstances.
The former soldier further clarified that he does not consider continuing to serve in this war to be practical, as he would be able to come to terms with his conscience in the future, and wrote: If I continue to serve in this war, I will never forgive myself.
The disobedience of the Israeli military is not limited to Tamir. In March, Michael Meyer, a former military intelligence officer for the regime, also announced that he considers the ongoing war to be “completely contrary to the interests of the Israeli people.” In addition, about a thousand current and former pilots and personnel of the Israeli Air Force have signed a petition calling for the immediate release of the prisoners, even at the cost of ending the war. After the statement was released, the army announced that the signatories would no longer be allowed to serve in the reserves.
Hundreds of intelligence officers from Unit 8200 – one of the elite units of the occupying regime’s army – and reserve doctors have also issued similar statements.
These developments are occurring at a time when Palestinian sources are reporting an increase in crimes committed by the Israeli army against civilians in Gaza, and the international community has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the region.
The Israeli army spokesman refused to provide statistics on the extent of the absence of reserve forces, and simply claimed in a press conference that the army has “sufficient manpower to carry out its missions.” However, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the army chief of staff warned ministers in a secret meeting that the army is facing a serious shortage of manpower and will not be able to achieve the government’s set goals in Gaza.
The New Yorker reported that a lieutenant colonel also declared that “entire units have disintegrated.” A recruiter told Israel’s Channel 12 that he was in a state of “complete despair.”
A survey by the Israeli Employment Service found that 41 percent of reservists were fired or forced to resign after being deployed. Nir says that during the last deployment, 60 percent of his unit showed up, but this time “less than 50 percent showed up. Things are really bad. Everyone is exhausted.”