Educators, reservists, ex-diplomats are latest to urge hostage deal, even by ending war
Petitions signed by thousands pan ongoing fighting for allegedly serving political interests, straying from war goals; warn operation endangers lives of hostages, Gaza civilians
A wave of public petitions calling for the return of hostages from Gaza even if it means an immediate end to the war continued on Monday, representing several more sectors of Israeli society, with thousands signing on to back the call originally made by Israeli Air Force reservists last week.
Separate letters were published Monday in the name of some 3,500 higher education academics, 3,000 education officials, 1,500 armored corps soldiers, 1,000 parents, dozens of former Foreign Ministry officials, and IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reservists.
As quoted by the Haaretz daily, academics signed on to a demand for the return of hostages without delay, “even at the cost of ending the war immediately.”
“The war serves mainly personal political interests,” the petition charged. “Continuing the war will bring death upon hostages, IDF soldiers, and innocent civilians and will wear out reservists. As has been proved in the past, only an agreement can bring hostages back to Israel safely.”
In a separate letter, education officials emphasized their belief that “only a diplomatic agreement can save lives, and that every passing moment without one” endangers the hostages.
It asserted that “this is not a call for refusal” to show up for military duties, but “a call to save lives.”
Critics of the petitions signed by military reservists, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the government, have characterized them as calls to refuse to serve, although the letters have not issued a threat to ignore calls to duty over the hostage talks impasse.
Around 1,000 parents also published a letter in which they said they refused to agree to an “eternal war” and refused to “shut our eyes at the killing of children,” as quoted by Haaretz.
“We will not cooperate with this dangerous concept that there are no innocents in Gaza. We will not allow the hostages to be abandoned, and we will not accept dehumanization.”
Armored Corps reservists and retirees, including former prime minister and IDF chief of staff Ehud Barak, signed on to a petition charging the fighting “no longer serves the war goals defined by the IDF,” demanding the immediate return of the hostages.
Additionally, dozens of former Foreign Ministry employees, including former director generals and ambassadors, signed onto a letter backing previous petitions, calling for the immediate return of hostages.
“The recent return to hostilities has not resulted in the release of a single hostage. We therefore demand immediate action to release the hostages, in one phase, even at the cost of ending the war,” they wrote.
IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reservists and retirees signed onto a letter similarly demanding the return of hostages at the price of ending the war, charging that the war no longer served security interests. It was not immediately clear how many signed onto that petition.
“As proved in the past, only a deal will return the hostages safely, while military pressure leads mainly to the killing of hostages and endangering their lives,” they said.
The latest petitions came after some 1,000 veterans of the Israeli Air Force published a letter last week demanding the return of the hostages in Gaza, even if it comes at the cost of ending the war against Hamas entirely. The military has moved to dismiss every active duty reservist who signed it, saying soldiers cannot use the “Israeli Air Force brand” to protest political matters.
“The continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF soldiers and innocent civilians,” read the original air force letter, which was published as an ad in several Israeli newspapers.
“As has been proven in the past, only an agreement [with the Hamas terror group] can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers,” it added. “We call on all citizens of Israel to mobilize for action.”
After the IDF moved to dismiss all active Air Force reservists who signed the letter last week, Netanyahu expressed support for the decision in a statement, in which he argued that even if it wasn’t explicit, they had in practice threatened to refuse to serve.
“Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language,” he said. “Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable.”
Retired Air Force members have published a letter calling for the return of all hostages, even at the cost of ending the war.
The letter expresses distrust in the considerations of the Chief of Staff and the Air Force Commander because it states that the war is pointless. The… pic.twitter.com/Y3O9gelVVK
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) April 10, 2025
The military said that only 60 of those who signed that letter were active reservists. Among those, only a handful were competent pilots, while the rest have been serving in headquarters roles, according to an IDF examination of the signatories.
The military recently dismissed at least two reservist officers for refusing to serve, including Air Force combat navigator Alon Gur, who said he told his superiors that “a line was crossed” and the government was “again abandoning its citizens in broad daylight.”
According to reports, those incidents were seen by the IDF as isolated cases, but a number of senior IDF officials were reportedly concerned that refusal to serve could become a larger phenomenon among reservists.
At the height of the 2023 protests against the judicial overhaul, hundreds of IDF reservists signed declarations saying they would no longer show up for reserve duty to protest the government advancing its plans to curtail the judiciary.
However, when war erupted in Gaza with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and massacres, nearly 300,000 reservists showed up for duty, marking the largest-ever call-up of reservists in Israel’s history.
Stav Levaton contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.