JERUSALEM - Some 200 Israeli professors and university students have signed a petition supporting rebel Israeli air force pilots who have refused to take part in raids over the Palestinian territories, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported Wednesday.
"The elected government doesn't have the right to destroy this country's military. We, professors, teachers and university students who have signed this petition, support the pilots who have the courage to refuse to participate in the repression and massacre of another people," they stated in the petition.
"We share their sentiments regarding the disappearance of moral values (...) We believe there is no good reason to keep feeding the cycle of violence rather than fighting against the real causes of terrorism which result from the occupation of Palestinian territories," the petition continued.
Twenty-seven air force reserve pilots, who spearhead the Israeli army, signed a petition last week in which they refused to conduct any attack operations in Palestinian territories.
The pilots proclaimed they no longer wanted "to obey illegal and immoral orders" and they refused "to take part in aerial raids against populated civilian centers" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"The continuation of the occupation endangers the security of the state of Israel, as well as its moral fiber," the pilots added in their letter.
Pilots who signed the petition have been either suspended or forbidden to fly. The majority of the rebel pilots are no longer in active service.
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