For the first time, the US is preparing to impose sanctions on an army unit of its staunch ally, Israel’s Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). According to Axios, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to issue sanctions against Israel’s Defense Forces “Netzah Yehuda” battalion in the coming days. The Netzah Yehuda is accused of human rights breaches in the Israeli-held West Bank.
According to the article, the battalion and its personnel will not be eligible for US Army assistance or training. In 1997, US Senator Patrick Leahy introduced legislation prohibiting American foreign aid and defense department training programs for foreign security, military, and police forces facing credible allegations of human rights breaches.
It is also known as the Leahy Law.
“You can expect to see them in the days ahead,” Blinken told Axios, following a meeting in Italy. The report also stated that the sanctions are based on the unit’s operations in the West Bank before the October 7 strikes.
The sanctions enraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“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
According to the source, several additional IDF and police units were reviewed by US authorities but would not face sanctions because they corrected their behavior.
Who are the Netzah Yehuda?
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is a unit in the Israeli military’s Kfir Brigade that was established to allow religious Israelis to serve in the army while maintaining their faith.
It is a special-purpose battalion made entirely of ultra-orthodox soldiers. Many young West Bank settlers who lean right on the political spectrum and who were not accepted into any other IDF combat unit, made the Netzah Yehuda their home.
The US State Department became aware of the group’s activity after receiving allegations of several episodes of violence against Palestinian civilians near the end of 2022. The killing of 80-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad in January 2022 prompted the US State Department to seriously examine the Netzah Yehuda battalion’s operations.
The Israeli government relocated the battalion to the Golan Heights following events in which its soldiers used violence against Palestinian civilians.