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The Israeli government and army commanders are “war criminals,” a former Israeli Air Force pilot, who was discharged from the army in 2003, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

In Israel and the army, there are some people who are against the occupation and repression policies of the Tel Aviv administration against the Palestinians, and Yonatan Shapira is one of them.

Shapira also launched a campaign that encouraged other military members not to obey orders of attacking Palestinians, which led to their discharge or dismissal from the army considering the situation the Palestinians were in.

As a result of the campaign that he conducted with his friends, 27 more army pilots have been discharged from their posts at the Israeli Air Force since 2003.

Following his dismissal, Shapira was fired from all the jobs he took as he participated in demonstrations to support the rights of Palestinians and drew attention to the “war crimes” committed by the Israeli army by holding international conferences. So he had to move to Norway and continues his life there.

During his interview with Anadolu Agency, Shapira explained why he joined the Israeli army and how he realized that he was “part of a terrorist organization” in his own words.

“I realized during the second Intifada what Israeli Air Force and Israeli military doing is war crime, terrorizing population of millions of Palestinians and when I realized that, I decided to not just leave but to organize other pilots that will publicly refuse to take part in this crime,” he stated.

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