The true heroes of Israel

Twenty-seven F-16 fighter jet pilots of the Israeli Air Force are 
refusing for now on for conscientious reasons, to execute immoral war crime 
targeted assassinations tasks and other attacks against Palestinian militia 
members and civilians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and other places. 
These pilots, partly on active service, others on reserve duty, announced 
their decision in a letter sent to the Air Force command, the Defence 
Ministry and to the press.

Air force chief Commander, General Dan Halutz, threatened the objecting 
pilots with ousting them from the Air Force, with court martial and life-
long prison terms for high treason.

Another Air Force General, Eliezer Shkefi, stated that these few pilots out 
of hundreds of others are acting not out of conscience, but in political 
protest against the government.

The objecting pilots and many others who sympathise with them told the 
media that they reject the threats to the pilots as being unlawful. They 
point out that the law allows them to refuse to carry out orders which are 
immoral and violate Human Rights and international conventions.

Moreover, they stressed in their press release, that the continuous 
occupation of Palestinian Gaza and the West-Bank endangers the security of 
Israel and its public image.

What particularly enrages the powers-to-be in Israel, is that this refusal 
to carry out orders is by pilots who are held in high esteem.

With their action, these 27 pilots (and those who might follow suit) add 
their conscientious objection to those of about 600 army officers and 
soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories.

Many of them had been already sentenced by the officers of their units to 
stockade jail terms. Five of them are at present standing trial at the 
supreme military tribunal for refusing orders.

The peace forces in Israel have expressed their solidarity with the pilots.

The Gush-Shalom Peace Bloc, the Coalition of Women4Peace, the communist-led 
Democratic HADASH Front, the Communist Forum and others are calling for 
massive solidarity and protest actions in support of the pilots during the 
coming days.

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Acknowledgements: Hans Lebrecht, Kibbutz Beit-Oren