For 33 years, Eitan Herzel has proudly dovetailed his career in Israel’s vaunted tech industry with reserve duty in an elite commando unit of the Israeli military.

Several times a year, Herzel left his job as a tech engineer to report for duty — initially as a fighter and then to guide the selection and training of new commandos.

That life of service came to a sudden end on Tuesday when Herzel wrote to his commander to resign in protest over the far-Right government’s decision to limit judicial power, which he sees as an assault on democracy.

“I have an agreement, like every soldier, between me and the country,” said Herzel, 55. “Israel is a country that is both Jewish and democratic,” he added. “If it becomes only Jewish and not a democracy, then that agreement is broken, and I can’t serve anymore.”

More than 10,000 reserve pilots, intelligence officers, commandos, military instructors, army medics and infantrymen had threatened to resign from volunteer duty if the government pressed ahead with the judicial overhaul bill.

It is too soon to tell how many will make good on their promises. But estimates provided by reservists prominent in the protest movement suggest at least 1,000 have so far made the decision to resign.

New York Times News Service