The US implicates five Israeli units in human rights violations and remains eligible for military aid

“Four of these units have effectively resolved violations,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that all incidents occurred before October 7 and that none took place in the Gaza Strip, the center of the conflict in months since October last year. .

Human rights groups say they have reported incidents involving Israeli units, including extrajudicial killings, torture and physical abuse, to the State Department, most of which have been committed against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The 5th Israeli unit could be related to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion

In the case of a fifth unit, Washington had not yet determined whether sufficient recovery had taken place and was still in discussions with Israel, he said.

The fifth unit is believed to be the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which has been implicated in the 2022 death of 78-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad.

No sanctions against Israel, stating remediation efforts

All units remain eligible for U.S. assistance, Patel said. He added that the cleanup is in line with what the US expects from its partners.

“We continue to engage and consult with the government of Israel,” Patel said. “They have submitted additional information related to that unit, and we continue to have those conversations.”

Patel repeatedly emphasized that the US has seen redress of Israel’s violations and that the process regarding the fifth unit is still ongoing.

When asked if there are double standards regarding the US approach to Israel, Patel said there is no such thing as “special treatment” or “double standards” and that the standards are applied “consistently to all countries.”

Leahy Laws activated by Israel, as recipient of US aid

The statement came after reports that some senior State Department officials had advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel may be violating international law and that Israel’s assurances submitted to the State Department regarding the use of American weapons is not “credible or reliable.”

According to a February 8 memorandum signed by President Joe Biden, countries receiving US military assistance are required to provide Washington with “credible and reliable written assurances” that the weapons will be used in accordance with “international human rights law and international humanitarian law ”. “

Israel submitted written assurances to the Foreign Ministry last month, but human rights groups said the assurances were not credible and urged the government to suspend arms transfers to Israel.

When asked about reports that Israel has violated the Leahy Laws, Blinken said on April 22 that this is a “good example of a process that is very deliberate, that tries to get to the facts to get all the information that needs to be carefully be done.” .

The Leahy Act, named after former Senator Patrick Leahy, requires the US to withhold military aid from foreign military or law enforcement units if there is credible evidence of human rights abuses.

Netzah Yehuda Battalion on human rights violations

The US is reportedly preparing to impose sanctions on the Israeli army’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion over human rights abuses by the combat unit against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.​​​​

Blinken appeared to be referring to Netzah Yehuda, a battalion created in 1999 to accommodate the religious beliefs of ultra-Orthodox Jews and other religious nationalist recruits in the military, which was deployed in the West Bank until it was moved in late 2022 after criticism from the US. .

Israel has reprimanded a Netzah Yehuda commander and two officers over Assad’s death after soldiers gagged him and cuffed his hands. However, authorities said it was impossible to determine that his cause of death was caused by the soldiers’ behavior.

Blinken wrote that one unit “has been recognized by the Israeli government as having engaged in conduct contrary to IDF rules and as a result was transferred from the West Bank to the Golan Heights in 2022.”

“The Israeli government has presented new information on the status of the unit and we will work to identify a path to effective remediation for this unit,” Blinken said.

Source: Newsroom