Nearly all reservist members of an Israeli Air Force fighter jet squadron on Sunday said they would not show up to one of their planned training sessions later this week, in protest of the government’s plan to radically restrict the power of the country’s judiciary.
Out of the 40 reservists in the IAF’s 69th Squadron, 37 said they were boycotting the Wednesday exercises. Their announcement was first published by the Haaretz daily.
The squadron — known as the Hammers — operates the F-15I fighter jets out of the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel.
In 2007, the squadron carried out a strike on Syria’s nuclear reactor, in a mission known to much of the world as Operation Orchard, and in the IDF as Outside the Box. It has also been involved in carrying out hundreds of strikes against Iranian entrenchment in Syria over the past decade, receiving a citation from the military chief in 2018 over the operations.
The reservists notified IAF chief Tomer Bar and the commander of the squadron of their intention to not show up for training this week, but said they would report for duty if required for operational missions.
source timesofisrael.com
