i know this is old, but we havent had a discussion on if it is fair to the pilots or not, pls excuse me if it was already posted... ------ http://slate.msn.com/id/2089938/ ------------- Flight School Israel's protesting pilots expose its divided vision of democracy. By Bernard Avishai Posted Friday, October 17, 2003, at 7:29 AM PT It would be hard to plan a more perfect challenge to a democracy than the one handed Israel in late September by 27 fighter and helicopter pilots. In an open letter, they expressed anguish over the scores of Palestinian civilians (including many children) killed or maimed as a byproduct of "targeted" attacks on senior members of Hamas and other terror groups—especially in densely populated Gaza, which Israeli ground troops are generally reluctant to enter. The pilots announced they would fly such missions no more. "These acts," the letter said, "are illegal and immoral and are a direct result of the ongoing occupation that corrupts all of Israeli society." The men, most veteran reservists, nine still on active duty, are members of a high military caste—one is a brigadier general who took part in the celebrated attack against Iraq's nuclear facilities in 1981. Denunciation of the pilots' letter has been swift and sharp, most prominently by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who, in an unusually passionate report to the Knesset, accused them of "sanctimoniousness and arrogance," demoralizing to comrades-in-arms who struggle to protect Israeli citizens from "murderous attack." The pilots would grant immunity to "lawless terrorists," and their letter hands "a propaganda weapon to Israel's enemies." He noted that the air force takes precautions to minimize civilian casualties, for example, by not dropping huge bombs that will certainly get their man but are more likely to inflict civilian losses, while terrorists kill civilians deliberately. Some prominent writers have spoken up for the pilots, and their letter has provoked arguments on talk shows and campuses, but for the most part, the pilots have been condemned even by people who, unlike Mofaz, are openly identified with Israel's peace camp—like former state president and air force chief Ezer Weizman. However honorable their intentions, the pilots pose a danger to Israeli democracy, a "cancer," Weizman said. Their orders derive from a government that was democratically elected—by a recent landslide, in fact. Can military officers, individually or as a group, selectively refuse orders from a civilian authority or second-guess the operational tactics of superior officers? Isn't the letter's reference to the "corrupting" influence of the occupation proof that the pilots are indeed politically motivated—like the 500 or so reservists who have refused various duties in the territories during the past two years? Three pilots, bending to these arguments, have recanted. Two more have joined while several have been suspended from service.
