Israel’s top military electronic surveillance unit expelled dozens of veterans on Monday for refusing to spy on Palestinians living under occupation, Army Radio said.

The commander of Unit 8200, named as Brigadier-General “A,” barred the 43 reserve soldiers who wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top army chiefs in September, saying they could no longer serve in the unit, the radio said.

Coming a few weeks after Israel’s 50-day war against Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, the letter was seen as an unprecedented rebuke of Netanyahu’s security policies but the military dismissed it as a publicity stunt by a small fringe.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

By decrying the sweep of eavesdropping on Palestinians, and the role such espionage plays in setting up air strikes that have often inflicted civilian casualties, the move opened a window on clandestine practices.

“We refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as a tool for deepening military rule in the occupied (Palestinian) territories,” the Yedioth Ahronoth daily quoted the letter as saying.

No signatories’ names were published, in apparent keeping with their non-disclosure commitments to Unit 8200, which monitors enemy Arab states and Iran as well as the Palestinians.

Several were interviewed anonymously in the Israeli media, however, and complained about what they described as the gathering of Palestinians’ private information – for example, sexual preferences or health problems “that might be used to extort people into becoming informants.”

Channel 1 TV quoted from Unit 8200 commander’s dismissal letter: “You have crossed a red line and acted inappropriately and in light of what you have written, we part company with you.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount