Veteran pilots who demanded prioritization of hostages: Our letter reflects view of large portion of the public

Israeli Air Force veterans who spearheaded a petition demanding the return of the hostages in Gaza, even if it comes at the cost of ending the war against Hamas entirely, hold a press conference in Tel Aviv.

“This whole story turned into something bigger and more dramatic than we expected,” Guy Poran, one of the initiators of the letter, says.

“The subject is not the air force and not pilots, but the 59 hostages that were supposed to be released a while ago. We, like a firm majority of the nation, believe they should be returned now, even at the price of ending the war,” he says.

Amnon Sharabi, another signatory, says, “The letter expresses the feelings of a very large part of the public.”

Sharabi notes that some of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backers have launched online attacks against freed hostage Liri Albag for her criticism of the premier on the matter.

“There are moments when you should reverse bad decisions. Hostage families saw the second stage [of the January ceasefire] as a stage when everyone would be released, and the captain chose a different way — a much longer way,” he says.

A group of close to 1,000 veterans of the Israeli Air Force, the vast majority of them in retirement, published the letter Thursday.

The letter did not call for a general refusal to serve, as had been previously reported, but instead urged the government to prioritize the release of hostages over the continuation of the war in Gaza, which the signatories argue now serves “political and personal interests” rather than national security.

After its publication, Bar, along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, moved to dismiss the active reservists who signed the letter, with the IDF saying that it has no issue with reservists protesting any matter in their civilian lives, as long as they do it without using the name of the military or their role.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.