Shin Bet reservists call for pause to judicial reforms to protect Israel's national security

Hundreds of reservists who serve in Israel’s security agency, known in Hebrew as Shin Bet, called on the Israeli government to immediately halt its push for judiciary reforms on Monday, citing the danger the reform poses to national security.

These members of Israel Defense Forces’ elite units warned that they would stop reporting for duty if the reforms were passed. Their protest came one day after the coalition renewed its plan to move forward with the contentious legislation.

“Continuing with the legislation will critically damage national resilience and the Israeli security system,” the veterans wrote in their letter.

Tensions are already high with the recent Palestinian terror attack in the West Bank and ongoing violence by Israeli settlers. The Shin Bet reservists have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to “allow the security system to direct all its resources to dealing with the security challenges that are intensifying at this time on several fronts.”

An additional group of some 80 reservists from Israel’s elite military intelligence units have added their names to the lists of hundreds who warned they would refuse to volunteer and claimed there are many more who will join the protest if the government continues to push the legislation.

In addition, hundreds of military doctors stated on Sunday that any unilateral move to pass the overhaul “will lead to drastic and unilateral measures by the reservist doctors.”

These announcements came just hours after the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee met to renew their discussion on the “reasonableness bill,” as Netanyahu has reportedly decided to support outlawing the judicial review of the “reasonableness” of government or ministerial decisions.

“Reservists from the Special Operations Division, Unit 8200, and military doctors have announced an end to volunteering for the reserves if the government does not immediately stop the coup d’état legislation,” the Shin Bet group wrote.

Soldiers in these cyberwarfare units and the Special Operations division report for duty as volunteers and often not during an emergency.

On Monday, opposition leader Yair Lapid defended the reserve soldiers who threatened to stop volunteering, stating that he believes they are not obliged to serve the State of Israel if it was no longer a democracy.

“People saying they will not serve in the army of a non-democratic country isn’t refusal. As long as the State of Israel is democratic, we’ll continue to serve. I reject the attaching of the word refusal to this situation,” Lapid said.

But at his own faction meeting, National Unity party leader Benny Gantz said his party remains opposed to reservists refusing to serve, even if in protest against the coalition’s “judicial coup.”

“We appreciate the people who express their concern,” he said, but “we are against refusal to serve.”

Earlier this year, IDF Air Force pilots also warned the Gallant that reservists would refuse to show up for service if the government pushed the controversial bill forward. Eventually, they agreed to address their objections in an organized meeting, during which the Israeli defense minister responded: “It was important for me to hear from you,” but he also warned the reservists that refusing to serve would threaten the state of Israel’s existence.

The controversial reform bill is seen as an amendment to the current law and states that Israel's courts, including the High Court of Justice, would no longer be able to hold hearings over the reasonableness of a government decision or invalidate decisions made by the prime minister, the cabinet, ministers or other elected officials based merely on their reasonableness. The court, however, will still be permitted to use the reasonableness clause for decisions made by unelected officials.

In their public letter on Sunday, the reservists wrote: “The law to cancel reasonableness will in practice eliminate democracy in Israel and will allow the government to pass any decision and any appointment. The day after that, they will fire the attorney general and every moral gatekeeper.”

The letter also noted various threats by the leaders of the coup calling for “the execution of pilots, military personnel, the attorney general and the Supreme Court president; they call us SA companies and nests of terror; they support the erasure of Palestinian villages.”

According to the reservists, the judicial overhaul plan has caused “enormous and long-term damage” by demotivating soldiers to serve in military security and intelligence positions like Shin Bet and Mossad.

“Without democracy, there will be no army, there will be no security, and this will be the end of the State of Israel,” the reservists wrote. “We will defend with our bodies and souls – in a nonviolent way – democracy and the gatekeepers of Israel.”