Who are these demonstrators? Who are the pilots who refused to turn up for training? What sort of families do they come from?
I will tell you who they are.
They are the sons and daughters of the people who refused to allow me to participate in a course given by the government because I had a “HaPoel HaMizrachi” card and not a Histadrut one.
They are the sons and daughters of the people who sent Ashkenazim to one room and Mizrachim to another, handing out large apartments to Ashkenazim only and nothing to anyone else. This was in Ashdod in the 1960’s and I was asked for the birthplace of my husband before being shuttled off to the room for Mizrachim. What a shame that I was so young and still uneducated. Today I would have blasted them on TV, taken them to court, made a worldwide noise and stopped the discrimination in its tracks.
These are the sons and daughters of those who had the power to give “protectzia” which means jobs and positions of power for the family, jobs for those they grew up with in the kibbutzim and Tel Aviv, and definitely not anyone else: read Mizrachim. And haredim. Another word for that is Corruption. It took three generations for everyone else to achieve in such a society, and today this majority has gained equality through their own effort and it has gained equality at the ballot box as well, despite all the big names who are trying to change the meaning of the word “democracy.”
Now we wonder who is overly represented in the elite IDF units, what sort of people have been controlling society, controlling opportunity and making the rules. Do the striking pilots and protest letter signatories from 8200 elite cyber IDF units and hi tech workers represent all sectors of Israeli society, or are they only the children of the old guard? I know that hesder soldiers are not accepted into 8200 anymore, to the unit whose soldiers are offered prime hi tech jobs when their service ends, because the army says hesder service is shorter (they return to yeshiva) and therefore it is not worth investing in them - even though they will have reserve duty for decades.
Quietly, legally and properly an election was held. The result did not go the way of the demonstrators.
Not only are our enemies laughing, but the mob behaviour is just that. Unjustifiable, illegal and certainly bad for Israel, causing damage. They were, they are the past, the future is not theirs and will never be.
The noise they are making in the streets is like a snake in its death throes.