Israeli army dismisses second IDF officer refusing to serve amid renewal of Gaza fighting

IDF soldiers in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza.

Yaniv Kubovich reports in Haaretz on 19 March 2025:

An IDF intelligence officer who had refused to serve in protest of the renewal of fighting in Gaza was dismissed from reserve duty on Wednesday, marking the second reserve officer being ousted on these grounds.

The officer in question, Michael Majer, wrote on Tuesday on X that he refuses to fight “in service of a group of filthy traitors and completely against the interests of the people of Israel.”

“The easiest thing for people like me would be to continue obeying orders,” Majer wrote in response to his removal on Wednesday morning. Standing his ground regarding his previous post, Majer said that he would be “more than happy to continue to serve” the country when the military service will be for the benefit of the country instead of “its leaders”.

“I won’t be one of those who will say ‘I was just following orders,'” he wrote.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army ousted a combat navigator from the reserves because he said he would not report for reserve duty to protest the government’s conduct. The navigator who was ousted, Alon Gur, said he has done reserve duty on a weekly basis for the last 16 years.

“This morning I broke,” he wrote on X on Monday. “I met with my squadron commander and told him no more. The line has been crossed at the point where the state is once again knowingly abandoning its citizens in broad daylight, the point where cold, cynical political calculations trump every other consideration, the point where human life has lost its value, and the point where the government is liquidating its gatekeepers.”

This past year, the rate of reservists reporting for draft orders has fallen, especially among those who have done several tours, sometimes totaling hundreds of days. Last June, some units reported that just 60 percent were showing up. In November, unnamed Israel Defense Forces sources told media outlets there had been a 15 to 25 percent drop.

This article is reproduced in its entirety