Minister calls for probe into Air Force chief’s handling of unrest in the ranks

Amichai Chikli says Tomer Bar has mismanaged reservists’ refusal to serve over the government’s judicial overhaul, noting that other division ‘have no such phenomena’

By ToI Staff 20 August 2023, 1:10 pm

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Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli speaks at the AJC Global Forum in Tel Aviv, on June 14, 2023 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Amichai Chikli, a cabinet minister and former commander of an elite army unit, said on Sunday that Air Force Commander Tomer Bar should initiate an inquiry into his own performance over the conduct of reservists from his corps who have urged comrades to decline to serve in protest of the government’s policies.

Chikli, who serves as the minister of Diaspora affairs and social equality, was addressing the suspension last week of several high-ranking Air Force officers and another one from the Navy after they vowed to stop performing reserve duty to protest the government’s judicial overhaul.

“The two most operational land divisions have no such phenomenon,” Chikli told Army Radio, alleging that the Air Force has a “compartmentalized problem in part of the reserves component.”

He added: “The Air Force has an advanced tradition of review and we need a review here.” Asked whether Bar should initiate the review, Chikli said: “Yes, he needs to review how he arrived at this situation. Because other commanders have not” found themselves in a similar position.

Reserve duty is mandatory in Israel but is de facto voluntary in elite units, including many Air Force units.

The judicial overhaul promoted by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to curtail parts of the judiciary’s jurisdiction and transfer some of its powers to the executive and legislative branches. Opponents of this plan say it compromises democratic principles because it removes checks and balances from the government’s policies or legislation. Proponents of the plan say it enhances democracy by dialing back what they say is a creeping power grab by the judiciary at the expense of elected officials.

File: An Israeli Air Force pilot walks to his F-16 fighter jet during the “Blue Flag” multinational air defense exercise at the Ovda air force base, on October 24, 2021. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Chikli insisted that the government would not pause or alter its overhaul plans for “a group of people who… don’t like the election’s results and find it unfathomable that the government has people like [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich or Haredim or others.”

Asked whether the government intends to speed up the overhaul in light of the unrest within the armed forces, Chikli said: “I don’t see these things as connected.”