IDF and Air Force chiefs to confront protesting reserve pilots

IDF chief Hertzi Halevi and Air Force commander Tomer Bar are talking to reserve pilots on Tuesday, after 37 said they would not turn up for a day of training this week in support of the protest against judicial reform legislation. They represent most of the IAF’s elite 69 “Hammers” Squadron, which operates F-15I Ra’am (“Thunder”) fighters.

Joining them on Monday were 200 reservist military physicians who said they would not show up for duty unless the government halts is judicial overhaul. Defense Minister Yoav Galant warned that the military reservists’ threat not to report for duty presented Israel with an “existential threat.”