Retired and reserve Air Force pilots rally outside IDF headquarters in protest of Gaza war

Some 200 retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv this evening to protest the cabinet’s recent decision to capture Gaza City, urging an immediate hostage deal.

Protesters read aloud a letter from Tami Arad, the wife of long-missing Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad.

“Thirty-nine years ago I tried to explain that Ron’s time was running out… Today decision-makers already know what can happen — and yet the members of Israel’s government have decided to occupy Gaza,” the letter reads.

Arad warned in the letter that the move “ignores the urgency to save the hostages,” and calls the plan to conquer Gaza City “a death trap” — a reference to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s comments in last week’s 10-hour security cabinet meeting in which the plan to occupy the Strip was approved.

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz tells the crowd: “Enough! Stop this unnecessary war of folly.”

Addressing Zamir, Halutz adds, “Do not let the messianics lead us into darkness… Any action to achieve an impossible goal could lead to the deaths… of the hostages.”

Zamir is widely reported to have opposed the plans for Gaza during security cabinet meetings and told cabinet members they might as well formally remove the goal of returning the hostages from Israel’s official war aims.