'A contract has been broken'

Conflict over Netanyahu's plans to overhaul the judiciary is leading to new levels of civil disobedience - and potential security risks

- Bethan McKernan

Over his years of service, Zur Allon, a reservist lieutenant colonel in Israel's artillery special forces, never imagined a day when he would refuse to report for duty.

"Half of my company was blown up in Lebanon. I have given many years of my life defending this country," said the 46-year-old, a leader of Brothers and Sisters in Arms, a pressure group of more than 60,000 Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reservists established this year in protest against the government's proposed overhaul of the judiciary.

"That's why we are so angry," Allon said. "The government is breaking a very simple contract we have - to protect a Jewish and democratic Israel."

The IDF was envisioned by the state's founder, David Ben-Gurion, as "the people's army": an apolitical melting pot that would bring together Israelis from diverse ethnic, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, and help build a sense of social cohesion.

That vision has been diluted, and the inequalities and divisions in Israeli society are reflected in the makeup of its armed forces. Arab citizens of Israel are not conscripted, and there is a longstanding legal battle over whether the ultra-Orthodox community should be exempted from the draft, but military service is still a defining part of the national ethos. Perhaps it is unsurprising that both sides of the debate over the proposals for the judicial system so frequently invoke military metaphors.