Israeli reserve fighter pilots announced on Sunday they won’t attend training as hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters went ahead with protests for the seventh consecutive week late Saturday over the government’s judicial overhaul.
A total of 37 reserve pilots out of the 40 members of the Israeli Air Force’s 69th fighter squadron have announced that they will not attend a pre-scheduled training session this coming.
The 37 reserve fighter pilots, from a unit specializing in attacking remote targets with the F15I Ra’am (Thunder) Jet, announced their decision to the heads of the air force and their squadron commander, The Jerusalem Post reported. They added that they will instead carry out their service by protesting outside of government offices.
In recent weeks a growing number of Israeli reservists have threatened to ignore calls to duty if the government does not back off from its judicial overhaul plans.
Earlier on Saturday, tens of thousands of Israelis rallied throughout the Zionist entity in the ninth straight weekend of protests against the Israeli government’s efforts to radically transform the judiciary, with some 160,000 estimated in Tel Aviv and tens of thousands more in other areas.
As the main Tel Aviv rally ended, clashes once again erupted between occupation police and some demonstrators, as the latter broke through barriers to enter the Ayalon Highway — an action police and so-called National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had vowed to prevent.
Police used horse-mounted cops and water cannons against the demonstrators as they sought to disperse them, The Times of Israel reported.
The latest rally in “Tel Aviv” comes after a “day of disruption” was called on Wednesday in several cities across the Zionist entity, where Israelis closed roads and train stations. The occupation police confronted the Israelis on Wednesday, using stun grenades and water cannons, leading to about 39 getting arrested and 11 others getting injured.
On the other hand, protest leaders announced on Sunday that Thursday, March 9 would serve as the next “day of disruption” around the Zionist entity — a repeat of events this past Wednesday.
Source: Israeli media
