Three women will receive their wings at Air Force graduation ceremony

Of the 600 who start the course, only 40 will finish.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Forty Air Force cadets will get their wings this Thursday, including three women, at a completion ceremony for the 180th flight course. The pilot course is considered one of the most prestigious in the Israel Defense Forces.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Air Force Chief Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin will attend the event.

The grueling three-year course starts with 600 cadets, of whom about two-thirds drop out in the first year. Graduates learn on several types of aircraft, receive a Bachelor’s degree and graduate with the rank of lieutenant.

The ceremony will be conducted with limitations due to the coronavirus. There won’t be an audience as is usually the case. Families of graduates will watch the ceremony via broadcasts provided by the IDF and Air Force.

Israel relies heavily on its Air Force to reduce threats to the country in the region. The Jewish state has carried out hundreds of strikes on Iranian forces in Syria, which have attempted to entrench there in an effort to build a land bridge from Iran to the Mediterranean.

“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy. We will not allow a regime hell bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2017.