On Thursday, three more petitions were published, containing the signatures of civil pilots, ex-soldiers and bereaved family members of fallen soldiers
The trend was started by a letter by members of the Air Force, most of them retired, urging to end the war if that is the only way of returning the hostages
Before the letter’s publication, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir and Israel Air Force chief Major General Tomer Bar lobbied the signatories in private meetings to refrain from publishing the petition
After publication, the IDF threatened to dismiss the several dozen active reservists among those who signed the petition
The Air Force letter was quickly emulated by people from other branches of the military as well as groups from a variety of civilian professions
One of the letters published Thursday was signed by 458 former members of the Golani Brigade calling for the immediate return of the hostages even at the expense of the cessation of fighting
Signatories included former IDF Intelligence chief Major General (res.) Uri Sagi, former Central Command head Major General (res.) Ilan Biran and Maayan and Ron Kehati, whose son Sergeant Gur Kehati was killed in Lebanon in November
Another letter, signed by 315 former members of reconnaissance and infantry units, stated,
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“This is the top-priority mission, these are the values that guide us and this is our moral duty as a nation This is a call to save lives”
