Israel’s elite reserve forces threaten to halt volunteer service in protest against legal reforms

Israel’s new far-right government’s planto overhaul its judicial system is facing tough resistance from reserve forces of the country’s military intelligence unit who have announced to halt their volunteer services from coming Sunday.

“The pistol is pressed firmly to the bedrock of democracy, and the trigger will soon be pulled,” the protest organisers wrote in a statement, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

It comes days ahead of the government’s plans to hold the final Knesset votes on Sunday on legislation that would severely limit courts or lawmakers from removing an unfit prime minister from office.

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Organisers of the group, which they claim comprise 450 reservists in special operations and 200 in cyber warfare, say they will “not show up for volunteer reserve service” from next week.

“We don’t have a contract with a dictator. We’ll be happy to resume volunteering when democracy is ensured,” they said in a statement circulated to the media.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition has been advancing proposals that would give politicians the power to appoint all Supreme Court judges, which can entail that a simple parliamentary majority could quash the court’s rulings.

It is believed that the changes would give an upper hand to the prime minister who has been looking to avoid prosecution in his corruption trial, in which he denies all charges.

Supporters of the proposal believe that they are needed to counter a perceived left-wing bias in the court’s decisions, while critics raise an alarm that it will say they will lead to democratic backsliding as seen in Hungary and Turkey.

Separately on Thursday, 100 senior reserve officers in an elite Air Force unit, too, threatened to discontinue their service saying that they won’t be able to work under such a regime.

(With inputs from agencies)


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