Months old news report of volunteer pilots leaving the Israeli Air Force not related to recent conflict

Context

A news report that allegedly tells of four Israeli Air Force commanders and 200 pilots leaving the military is being shared on social media as relating to the recent conflict that has escalated following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. A clip from the news report was shared on TikTok and X, while the same claim was shared on Facebook without the video. 

The news report, however, is not as recent as the posts on social media suggest. 

In fact

Logically Facts traced the story of the Israeli commanders and pilots to a report by Israeli news channel Channel 13. It originally aired on July 19, 2023, and describes 200 volunteers in the Israeli Air Force reserve announcing they’d end their volunteer duty in protest of legislation proposed by the Israeli government to overhaul the judicial system and limit the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court.

Israeli online newspaper The Times of Israel also reported the story. On July 21, 2023, the paper reported that more than 1,100 Israeli Air Force reservists, including more than 400 pilots, had announced they would suspend their reserve duty in protest of the government’s plans.

The Israeli government’s judicial reform has been widely protested since being introduced at the start of the year. The first part of the reform was passed into law on July 25, 2023. 

The verdict

The news report is from July. It details Israeli Air Force personnel opting out of volunteering duty in protest of the Israeli government’s proposed plan to overhaul the judicial system. It does not relate to recent clashes with Hamas. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.