Israel's Air Force chief: Attacks on IDF could take years to fix

IDF Air Force Chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar on Thursday made a series of unusual public statements attempting to straddle the debate over the government's repeal of the judiciary's reasonability clause so as to maintain the cohesiveness of his forces. 

Bar said, "I feel the heavy weight of responsibility on my shoulders - my focus is the readiness and the cohesion of the air force and remaining ready to handle the heavy tasks placed upon us."

Bar stated, "In recent days and weeks, the air force has continued to act on all of the fronts and in some of the most substantial kinds of operations."

"Regarding the harsh statements said against the IDF and the air force, both mandatory service and reserves in recent days, there is no place in our society for such statements, and they are desecrating and are causing great damage to the cohesion of our forces," he said. "I completely condemn them."  

Motives behind IAF chief's statements

This statement could be pushing back against some right-wing politicians and activists who have increased their attacks on the IDF generally and on reservists threatening to quit their reserve duty in particular, or could be pushing back on attacks by protesting reservists on senior IDF officials for not pushing more publicly against the government's proposals.

The air force chief explained, "the model of service has worked superbly already for 75 years. Reservists, mandatory service personnel, technicians, and combat pilots, 'the greens [the infantry] and 'the blues' [the air force.] This model has enabled the air force umbrella which secures our citizens. If we continue to harm it, it will take years to rehabilitate it."

Bar was speaking the day after 161 reservists, many of them air force logistics officials, formally pulled out of their reserve duty to protest the government's repeal of the reasonability clause. 

Next, he said, "I have stood at all times for the principle of [reserves] answering to the call-up and I will continue to stand for this. Our forces have great challenges, and we do not have the luxury to ignore them."

Further, he stated, "all of the actions which the air force takes are consistent with the values of the IDF and are approved by the relevant authorities based solely on professional operational considerations."

These last two statements seemed to push back against protesting reservists, calling on them to protest but still serving, and disputing claims protesters have made that the government's current moves could expose them to political or non-legal decision-making.