Israeli Pilot who refused to bomb Palestinian targets gets 'golden wings'

Ha'aretz
Brig. Gen (res.) Iftach Spector, the highest-ranking officer to sign the "pilots' letter," declaring the refusal to participate in operations in the territories in 2003, was last week awarded the golden wings given to Israel Air Force pilots to mark the 50th anniversary of their graduation from flight school [a routine ceremony].

The insignia was bestowed on Spector less than two weeks after the Israel Defense Forces decided to dismiss from service a Kfir Brigade soldier for waving a sign in support of refusing to evacuate unauthorized settler outposts in the West Bank.

In 2003...Spector was the commander of the IAF's Ramat David and Tel Nof bases and was considered one of the best fighter pilots in Israeli history...... was one of the pilots who attacked Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. 

Spector shocked his colleagues when he signed the letter in which 27 IAF pilots declared their refusal to take part in operations in the Palestinian territories that they claimed were illegal and immoral. All of the signatories were forced to leave their IAF reserve duty posts, but Spector did stay on as a flight instructor.

The incident led to Spector's autobiography, "Loud and Clear: The Memoir of an Israeli Fighter Pilot," in which he settled scores with then IAF commander Dan Halutz for saying, famously, that when he dropped a one-ton bomb on a populated neighborhood he felt: "Nothing. Just a light buffet on the wing, that's all." Spector accused Halutz of encouraging a culture within the IDF of compromising one's principles....  Full story