Palestinians ‘salute’ reservists from top intel unit
After 43 members of Unit 8200 refuse duty, PA applauds ‘ethical’ move, while soldiers’ comrades protest ‘lies’ about service

The Palestinian Authority on Friday applauded a letter by thirty-three reserve soldiers and 10 reserve officers from the IDF’s highly regarded 8200 intelligence unit expressing their refusal to take part in any action designed to “harm the Palestinian population” in the West Bank. Colleagues of the 43 protested the letter, however.
Adnan Damiri, the official spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, hailed the move as an ethical step and said the Palestinians “salute” such humanitarian initiatives to help an oppressed people.
In the public letter issued Friday, copies of which were sent to to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, and the head of Military Intelligence, the reservists stated that their consciences would no longer allow them to contribute to the gathering of information on Palestinian society, Army Radio reported.
Meanwhile, over 150 reservists from the same unit signed a letter on Friday protesting the claims put forth in the original letter.
“We regret that our comrades have made political and cynical use of their [military] service, while disseminating fraudulent statements about the unit,” read the letter, which, like the original, was also sent to Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Gantz, and the head of Military Intelligence.
“Having been familiar with the unit for many reasons, we can’t accept the claims regarding a lack of ethical and moral guidelines in the intelligence work of the unit,” the 150-plus soldiers wrote. “Throughout our service, we bore witness to many cases in which the use of intelligence capabilities made it possible to safeguard human lives, on both sides.”
“Even when moral dilemmas arise during the work, as well as in wartime, we have witnessed, and still witnessed, a mature and responsible response which is in line with international law and the ethical and moral code of the army.”
The soldiers noted that when summoned for reserve duty, they cast their political opinions aside and “come to serve the country, as any soldier should do, particularly in a unit like ours.”
The original communication by the 43 reservists had stressed that, in the opinion of the reservists, such information was often used as a tool to exert control over innocent Palestinian civilians and to turn the residents of the West Bank against each other. The reservists added that the unit’s methods of information-gathering unjustly invaded the privacy of Palestinian civilians.
“The Palestinian population, which is under military rule, is completely exposed to the espionage and surveillance efforts of Israeli intelligence,” the letter read.
“The intelligence [that was] gathered, hurts innocent people, and was used in order to politically persecute [Palestinians], and as a means to create division in Palestinian society by mobilizing collaborators and directing Palestinian society against itself.
“We are unable, morally, to serve in such a system which harms the rights of millions of people,” the letter concluded.

The signatories, however, stressed that they would continue to take part in operations to gather information regarding enemy states.
“We understand the need to defend ourselves, and intelligence is by definition something dirty, and compared to other countries it really is self-defense. But with the Palestinians, the main objective is to maintain the military rule in the West Bank,” one of the reservists told Siha Mekomit magazine.
“We say this not because we read some newspapers or blogs, but because that is what we had to do in the line of duty.”
Unit 8200 is the main intelligence body in the military. The unit is responsible for collecting all of the army’s signal intelligence, including telephone calls, text messages, and emails.
The IDF, in response, said that special emphasis is placed on the operations of the unit in order to ensure that civilians in the West Bank are inconvenienced only to the degree absolutely necessary in order to protect the Israeli population.
“Unit 8200 is dedicated to gathering intelligence that allows Israeli Security forces to carry out their mission, which is to defend Israeli civilians,” an IDF spokesman told the Times of Israel.