Veterans from Israel's top military electronic surveillance unit, dismissed after refusing to spy on West Bank Palestinians, have accused the army of ignoring the moral issues raised by their protest.
The 43 reservists, men and women, served in the elite cyber intelligence 8200 unit, and had all signed a letter to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu last September in which they stated: "We, veterans of unit 8200, reservists past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in activity against Palestinians and refuse to be instruments that deepen military control in the occupied territories."
The rare insubordination, coming only a month after Israel’s war in Gaza, was widely condemned by mainstream politicians and by commanders and soldiers in the unit.
Dismissing the reservists on Monday, unit 8200 commander Brig Gen “A” accused them of crossing “the fine line between politics and military service”.
Rejecting the group’s allegations of unethical conduct, he wrote: “You have faulted thousands of soldiers serving with the unit, past and present. Your inappropriate conduct has crossed a red line, and given your letter we have no choice but to bid you farewell.”
The reservists said the army had failed to address the ethical dilemmas they raised.
“Unfortunately, it seems the unit has chosen to deal with the concerns we have raised by removing us from service, as if it would remove the issues as well. The issues raised in our letter were not rumours but things we witnessed first-hand, actions that were part of our daily service. Unit 8200’s role exceeds self-defence and goes beyond the sole protection of national security,” they said in a statement.
‘Political persecution’
The soldiers said they refused to “continue serving the system which affects the rights of millions of people”, criticising the “political persecution” their spying activities entailed.
Unit 8200 is the largest intelligence unit in the Israeli army. It is charged with collecting signals intelligence, including phones calls, text messages, emails and faxes.
As unit 8200 is top secret, the soldiers who signed the September letter did not give their names, but in anonymous interviews with the Israeli media they complained that their eavesdropping activity included gathering private information on Palestinian residents, such as sexual preference and health issues, that was subsequently used by the military to recruit informers.
