Tel Aviv: The Israel Defence Forces confirmed on Thursday that a senior naval reserve officer was suspended from duty after telling his commanding officers he would refuse to serve in protest against the government’s judicial overhaul initiative.
The officer, who has the rank of Rear Admiral and serves as a combat manager in the Navy headquarters, was suspended by Vice Adm. David Sa’ar Salama following what the IDF called a “command conversation.”
The IDF added that the suspension was approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and that second reserve Rear Admiral are due to have a similar meeting with Salama.
The IDF statement stressed that both officers are over the mandatory age for reserve service, performed reserve service voluntarily and were promoted to Rear Admiral several years ago.
In recent weeks, thousands of reservists from the Army, Air Force and Naval branches have said they would refuse call-ups over the governing coalition’s judicial overhaul. However, there are no figures available on how many reservists have refused to show up so far. The controversy has raised concerns about an erosion of military readiness.
On Wednesday, senior IDF officials briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in a closed-door meeting. A Knesset spokesperson said the lawmakers were given a “detailed report on the competence and readiness of the army in the face of existing and future needs.”
Israel’s pool of active reservists who could be called up is estimated to be around 100,000.
The governing coalition’s judicial reforms are deeply controversial.
Legislation advancing through the Knesset would primarily alter the way judges are appointed and removed, give the Knesset the ability to override certain High Court rulings, restrict the ability of judges to apply standards of “reasonableness,” and change the way legal advisors are appointed to government ministries.
Supporters of the legal overhaul say they want to end years of judicial overreach while opponents describe the proposals as anti-democratic.
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