File photo of an Israeli F-15 warplane -- Made in the USA

Tel Aviv, December 15 (RHC)-- A former high-ranking Israeli legal official calls on Israeli pilots to stop volunteering to fly the regime’s warplanes if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to enact his controversial “judicial reforms.”

Moshe Lador, the regime’s former so-called “state attorney,” who used to represent Tel Aviv in courts, made the call on Saturday in one of the strongest protests so far against the scheme.   He said the pilots "not only have the right but the obligation” to oppose the regime that was “aggressively and bullyingly pushing its agenda,” adding that upon enactment of the scheme, the regime would turn into a “dictatorship.”

Lador urged the pilots to address the regime by saying: “You are turning into dictators. Therefore, I will not fly your planes.”

The purported reforms that he denounced as “illegitimate” rob the regime's highest court of the ability to strike down decisions made by Netanyahu's extremist cabinet and Knesset (the Israeli parliament).

The parliament would, therefore, be empowered to amend the so-called Basic Laws -- which constitute the regime's quasi-constitution -- in any way it sees fit. The legislature will be also enabled to overrule the court's decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes in the 120-member body.

Opponents say the judicial overhaul is meant to help Netanyahu avoid the repercussions of his ongoing corruption cases.  The prime minister is being sued for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

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Lador reminded that the premier, who was pushing through the scheme, was facing charges that were "more severe" than his predecessor Ehud Olmert, who was sentenced to prison in 2009 after being convicted of accepting bribes and obstructing justice in his previous capacities.

His comments drew fiery remarks from Netanyahu, his allies, and others.  The premier said Lador’s remarks “deserve unanimous condemnation.”  “A call for refusal during wartime, especially from someone who once led the enforcement system, crosses a red line,” he said, alleging that Lador’s demand “endangers democracy and threatens our future.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also said such calls harmed the regime’s “security and threaten to reignite the divisive rhetoric we must leave behind.”