Israel Reels at Pilots' Refusal to Go on Missions
| Thu Sep 25,10:27 AM ET |
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By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel reeled Thursday from the shock refusal of a group of air force pilots to carry out missions against Palestinian militants in which civilians could be killed.
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"The pilots' mutiny" was how Israel's largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, described their action as commentators speculated whether other soldiers might follow suit in opposing the way the military confronts a Palestinian uprising.
But much of the emotive debate touched off by a letter released by 27 veteran airmen -- only nine of whom are still called to active duty as reservists -- largely veered away from the moral aspect of the deaths of innocents.
It focused instead on the embarrassing blow dealt to an air force Israel regards as one of its proudest achievements and whether members of what Israelis call a people's army can, in matters of conscience, take a stand against official policy.
"We, who were taught to love Israel and contribute to the Zionist enterprise ( news - web sites), refuse to take part in attacks on civilian population centers," the pilots wrote in a letter to air force chief Dan Halutz.
It was the highest-profile act of defiance by members of the armed forces since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, when a tank brigade commander resigned rather than invade Beirut after saying he saw children through his field glasses.
Military sources said no decision had been taken as yet on punishing those pilots on active status.
NORMS HAVE CHANGED
Both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been hardened by violence that has included dozens of suicide bombings in Israeli cities and air attacks on militants in which Palestinian civilians have died.
Israel has a small active group of conscientious objectors, but their campaign has been overshadowed by the daily bloodshed.
"The norm we were taught was that we do not go to places where we known civilians are present," said Lieutenant-Colonel Zeev Rotem, a retired navigator who did not sign the letter.
"That norm has changed. Today (we) attack targets where there are civilians -- women and children -- knowing there's a good chance they will die," he told Israel Radio. Israel drew international condemnation last year when 16 civilians died after an F-16 warplane dropped a one-ton bomb on a residential neighborhood in Gaza City to kill Salah Shehade, a top commander in the militant Islamic group Hamas.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israeli decision-makers always take possible civilian casualties into account.
"For example, we carry out the operation after 8 a.m., because children will not be there, or use a much lighter bomb that does not guarantee the mission will be successful but does ensure innocents will not be hurt," Shalom told Israel Radio.
Israel failed to kill several Hamas leaders in recent attacks after using less powerful bombs in order to reduce the risk of hitting civilians.
Shalom said the pilots appeared to have an alternative political agenda, referring to their accusation that occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ( news - web sites) had "corrupted Israeli society."
Accusing the maverick pilots of self-indulgence, Ezer Weizman, Israel's former president and ex-air force commander, told Army Radio: "I would ground them immediately. It's like...cancer -- it will spread if it isn't cut out."