The US, for the first time, is poised to impose sanctions on an army unit of ironclad ally Israel’s Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). According to Axios, US secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces “Netzah Yehuda” battalion in the coming days.
The Netzah Yehuda is being accused of human rights violations in the Israeli-held West Bank.
The outlet said in its report that the battalion and its members will be banned from receiving US Army assistance or training. In 1997, US senator Patrick Leahy framed a law which prohibited American foreign aid and its defence department training programs to cater to foreign security, military and police units who face credible allegations of human right violations.
It is also known as Leahy law.
“You can expect to see them in the days ahead,” Blinken was quoted as saying by Axios, following a meeting in Italy. The report also pointed out that the sanctions are based on the unit’s actions in the West Bank before the October 7 attacks.
The sanctions have left Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fuming.
“Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces! In recent weeks, I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low. The government headed by me will act by all means against these moves,” the Israeli PM said in a post on X.
The report said that several other IDF and police units were investigated by the US authorities and will not be sanctioned as they remedied their behaviour.
Who Are The Netzah Yehuda
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is a battalion in the Kfir Brigade of the Israeli military which was created to allow religious Israelis to serve in the army in an atmosphere respecting their religious convictions.
It is a battalion that works as a special unit and consists of ultra-orthodox soldiers, all of whom are men. Many young settlers in the West Bank, who lean to the right of right on the political spectrum and who were not accepted into any other IDF combat unit, made the Netzah Yehuda their home.
The actions of the group came under the notice of the US state department following reports of several incidents of violence against Palestinian civilians towards the end of 2022. The death of 80-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad in January 2022 also led to the US state department closely studying the Netzah Yehuda battalion’s actions.
The Israeli government moved the battalion to the Golan Heights due to incidents in which its soldiers used violence against Palestinian civilians.
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