Air Force officer admits: The refusal that preceded the war damaged his competence

July 10, 2024   

For the first time since October 7th: An Air Force officer admits that there was a significant damage to the competency of the force following the wave of refusals that preceded the war. According to a report this evening (Wednesday) by senior political commentator Amit Segal on Channel 12, the commander of the Air Traffic Control and Flight Supervision School, Lieutenant Colonel Yaniv Even, revealed this week that after the massacre, many reserve servicemen in sensitive positions in the force were in a state of incompetence. As part of his role, Even is responsible for training two systems with a dramatic impact: the first - protecting the country's skies, the second - coordinating the airspace, so that many planes and aircraft can operate in relatively small space compartments. "Once some time passes, you understand that training needs to happen and quickly. In fact, after October 7th, we touched the school in a field that was not there before - competence. Until then, we only did training. We took a person who does not know the profession and taught him. Around the social (i.e. legal) protest, we have quite a few reservists who are not qualified for the task. And we need to very quickly build a training kit for them, based on the knowledge we learned in the war, and put them in one after the other," said Even. He added: "The starting point for learning the lessons is failure. As an army, we unequivocally failed." The IDF claimed throughout the war that there was no damage to the Air Force's competence. This is despite the fact that in the early days of the war, the commander of Palmachim Air Base said that there were pilots who suffered from a damage to their competence. An IDF spokesman responded: "On the morning of October 7th, the operation of the Air Force was not affected in any formation due to a competence problem." The organization 'Pilots and Fighters Against Refusal' responded: "Lt. Col. Yaniv Even's disturbing words confirm what we have been claiming all along - the destructive refusal that preceded the war severely damaged the Air Force's capability and its ability to protect Israeli citizens. "His admission, which was made with great honesty, that 'we as an army have unequivocally failed' proves that the division and refusal sown by extremist organizations directly contributed to the damage to the IDF's operational capability on the eve of the war. "We demand a comprehensive investigation into the connection between refusal and the damage to military capability, and the prosecution of those responsible for incitement and damage to the state's security. At this difficult time, we must unite and strengthen the IDF and the security forces. We call on all citizens of Israel to stand by the IDF and reject with disgust any manifestation of refusal or damage to the security system,",