Sunday's report by Haaretz military correspondent Yaniv Kubovich on the refusal by nearly all reserve pilots of the Israel Air Force's 69th Squadron to join in a training exercise this week, and their plans to attend the pro-democracy protest instead, is an unprecedented political move by reservists.

In recent weeks, thousands of reservists have made similar statements. However, this was a concerted action by 37 out of 40 reservists - all flying with one of the IAF's most strategic squadrons, identifying specifically as members of one small and elite unit. (The 69th is the only squadron operating the long-range F-15I fighter-bomber.) Unsurprisingly, it resonated more than any other reservist protest. [...]

What we're seeing now, though, is on a scale never seen before - both in the number of reservists openly saying they'll refuse to serve if the judicial overhaul goes through, because it will be "serving a dictatorship," in the wide variety of elite units represented in the protest; and also in the backing they have received from a wide swath of Israeli society and from senior figures in the security establishment (including former chiefs of staff).