Thousands refuse to report for volunteer duty
Protest organisers quoted by Kan claimed that up to Tuesday morning, the authorities were also preventing further activists from joining their encampment and supplying them with food, water and shade.
(TIMES OF ISRAEL AND JTA) – The chief spokesperson of the Israel Defence Forces acknowledged that the thousands of soldiers who have been refusing to report for volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government’s judicial overhaul have caused a degree of harm to the army’s readiness, warning that divisions within the ranks due to the ongoing political crisis could take significant time to heal.
“You asked about [military] fitness – the IDF is ready for war, but there is limited harm in some areas,” Daniel Hagari said in a Channel 12 interview, highlighting the Israeli Air Force as one branch that has been particularly harmed by the protest.
Hagari pointed to the IAF’s flight school, where some reservist pilots opposed to the overhaul volunteer as instructors: “People who leave everything, once a week, and go to train the young pilots. A significant number are deciding not to come.”
For several weeks, as the government advanced the first major bill of its judicial overhaul, more than 10,000 reservists who frequently show up for duty on a voluntary basis said they would no longer do so. The reservists have warned they will not be able to serve in an undemocratic Israel, which some charge the country will become if the government’s overhaul plans are realised.
According to an unsourced “assessment” in his Likud party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have the numbers to pass a bill changing the make-up of the Judicial Selection Committee, arguably the most far-reaching and controversial measure in the judicial overhaul plan.
Netanyahu had indicated to the Bloomberg financial news outlet that he would seek to pass the bill – aimed at bringing the appointment of new judges under near-absolute government control – by November, then shelve the other proposals that are part of the judicial overhaul. The premier said he would work for a compromise with the opposition on the legislation. Several Likud lawmakers have recently indicated they might no longer allow the coalition to bulldoze further judicial overhaul laws through the Knesset.
“As things stand”, according to the Likud assessment cited by the Ynet news site, Netanyahu would not have the votes to unilaterally remake the judicial selection committee.
Netanyahu is vacationing with his wife Sara and after a two-day standoff, police finally allowed about 200 anti-government protesters to march into the Golan Heights community of Neve Ativ and gather near the hotel where they are staying.
Police closed off all entry to the moshav on Monday, leading to complaints from residents as well as activists, with the latter submitting two petitions to the High Court against the move.
Demonstrators slept in tents outside Neve Ativ on Monday night after police closed off the community, only allowing in residents and hotel guests.
Protest organisers quoted by Kan claimed that up to Tuesday morning, the authorities were also preventing further activists from joining their encampment and supplying them with food, water and shade.
But on Tuesday afternoon, the police decided to allow the demonstrators to move forward and gather some 300 metres from the hotel.
Moshav secretary Assaf Vankert told Kan that the community was under siege, since entrance gates were locked and farmers could not reach their fields.
“Security forces violated all the agreements we made with them,” he said. “We went to talk with the commanders of the ‘operations room’ near the hotel asking for help, to no avail.”
Meanwhile, the Jewish American billionaire known for bankrolling an influential Israeli right-wing think tank said he has stopped doing so because of concerns over the future of Israeli democracy and the disunity within Israeli society. Arthur Dantchik, a libertarian and major Wall Street executive, gifted millions in tax-exempt donations to Kohelet Policy Forum, the Jerusalem think tank that devised central aspects of the judicial reforms pursued by the government of Netanyahu and detested by the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets in protest regularly for months.
Dantchik himself had been the subject of protests at his Philadelphia-area home and office.
The Israeli business journal Calcalist discovered Dantchik’s decision to stop funding the think tank. When it approached Dantchik for comment, he confirmed it in a statement.
“Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organisations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, when a society becomes dangerously fragmented, people must come together to preserve democracy. I stopped donating to think tanks in Israel, including the Kohelet Policy Forum. I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity.”
Exactly how much Dantchik has given to Kohelet has not been disclosed. The very fact of his support for the think tank was unknown until an investigation published by Haaretz in 2021. He is thought to be the group’s largest funder. Kohelet employs dozens of policy experts, researchers and lobbyists and is influential with key members of Netanyahu’s government.
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