Commentary: Rebelling air force pilots in controversy

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Challenging the policy of targeted killings, 27 reserve and retired air force pilots this week said Israel engaged in "illegal and immoral attacks" and they would refuse to participate "in hurting innocent civilians."

"We refuse to take part in air force attacks in civilian population centers," they declared.

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The pilots also criticized the "continuous occupation that corrupts the entire Israeli society."

They made the statements in a letter delivered to Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz, Wednesday, and in interviews to Channel 2 TV and the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Their action fueled a controversy over the government's policy of assassination and a debate over soldiers' right to refuse orders.

"It is a real earthquake," Hebrew University political science professor Yaron Ezrahi Thursday told United Press International. "A military force without moral justification is a weaker military force," he maintained.

"It is a 'Follow Me' call to the entire camp. ... Whichever way one looks at it, it is a call to rebellion," wrote Yediot Aharonot commentator Alex Fishman.

Most of the 27 pilots are retired officers. They include a brigadier general and two colonels. Five pilots are in active operational duty, the head of the Air Force's Air Division, Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan told UPI.

The targeted killings were initially aimed at what Israel called "ticking bombs," that were on their way to attack. This summer attacks spread to Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip. Israel said there was no real distinction between Hamas' military and civilian echelons.

The heaviest attack, which reportedly served as a watershed for the rebelling pilots, occurred in June 2002. An air force plane dropped a one-ton bomb on a house in Gaza killing Salah Shehade, founder and commander of Hamas' Iz eddin al-Qassam militants. It also killed 14 other people, including 11 women and children. An F-15 pilot, identified only as Captain A, hinted the order to drop that bomb was manifestly illegal. The army has been more careful since then.

The army spokesman had no figures on the number of targeted killings or the number of casualties. However, the Israeli B'Tselem human rights organization said Thursday that 131 Palestinians were killed in targeted killings the air force launched. Half of them -- 65 people -- were bystanders, it noted.

"A real ticking bomb is of course a legitimate target, but none of the liquidations was against a ticking bomb," argued a helicopter pilot identified only as Captain A.

An Apache pilot said he decided to refuse such operations "before I return from a mission and know I killed a woman and a girl. These operations ... just weaken us because we lose moral justification."

The pilots met some sympathy. A retired air force navigator, Lt. Col. Zeev Rotem, recalled his first combat assignment, an attack on an arms depot near Beirut in the early 1980s.

The bomb mistakenly hit a neighboring house. That evening Rotem saw TV footage of dead civilians being pulled out.

"I was in shock. I didn't sleep the entire night," he told Israel Radio.

Norms have changed since then and now attacks are knowingly launched against targets that contain women and children, he charged.

Nehushtan said the attacks are very carefully planned and the military uses very precise ammunition.

The pilots' orders are very clear, Nehushtan continued. Even after firing a missile, if the pilot thinks innocent people will be hit "he must steer the missile away."

The militants have no camps, no tanks, no planes and "operate from within a civilian population. It is their strategy, so we have to fight it," he argued.

In a circular to the air force's commanders, Halutz noted hundreds of soldiers and civilians have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks. The terrorists "cannot have immunity under the cover of Palestinian women and children," he stated.

It is not clear how many pilots agree with the critics' letter.

Nehushtan said they are "a marginal phenomenon" among the pilots. However a fighter pilot identified only as Captain R. told Yediot Aharonot of "unease in the squadrons, from the highest ranks there to the 25- to 26-year-old (pilots). The younger ones don't talk. ... I don't think they think about it."

Some pilots openly agreed with the air force strikes. The army spokesman took a Channel 2 TV crew to a Cobra attack helicopter squadron. A pilot there said they would attack "a man who would (otherwise) ... tomorrow kill 17 Israelis. We go and kill him in the most focused way there is."

Retired Maj. Gen. Giora Rom said that in the cockpit, "you are an emissary of the people in the busses (that are subject to Palestinian suicide attacks). The only thing that is important for you as a pilot is to do your job perfectly."

The issue of refusing to obey orders hits Israel's headlines every few years. Usually it concerns soldiers who refuse to take part in occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sometimes, commanders solve the problem by assigning such soldiers to other duties. Some pilots are reportedly training cadets to avoid the dilemmas of fighting Palestinians.

The army, including dovish politicians, maintain soldiers must obey all orders. Doves must take part in the occupation just as much as hawks are expected to evict settlers, if ordered to do so, left-wing politicians argue.

"Whoever fights in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) cannot choose his assignments," Nehushtan stressed. All the more so with pilots. "They know that whomever volunteers doesn't choose tasks but implements them," he stated.

A soldier should refuse only "manifestly illegal orders," army rules say. The law does not explicitly say what is a "manifestly illegal order." However, the rule of thumb says it is an order that raises a black flag.

"I am not saying everybody has the same flag. However, every air force pilot has such a black flag (in his mind) and will know to identify it," Nehushtan asserted.

Halutz promptly grounded the rebelling pilots. If they stand by their statement, they will no longer serve as air force commanders, he ordered.

If they wish to retract their statements, they will have to do so in the media and Halutz said he must personally approve every pilot's return. Trainers in the military's flight school will not be allowed back.

"These are not the figures that should train the next generations," he wrote.

"There is nothing less moral than stabbing a knife in the fighters' back," he asserted.