Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked the US government this Sunday for Washington’s intention to sanction one branch of Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF), promising to fight the decision with all his power.
Axios reported this Sunday that in an unprecedented move in the history of US-Israel relations, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce a series of harsh sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion, a unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in the coming days. “You can expect to see them in the days ahead,” Blinken said, referring to the sanctions against the IDF unit.
The Netzah Yehuda, and the US sanctions are set to be imposed for what Blenkin called the group’s “human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.”
Washington has never done such a thing to Israel before, despite many reports confirming that the Israeli army has committed war crimes and targeted civilians from international rights groups and the UN staff during decades of occupying Palestinian lands.
What is the Netzah Yehuda unit?
The Netzah Yehuda battalion is a special unit that was created in 1999 to only include male ultra-orthodox Jewish soldiers. It has been linked to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, including the killing of 78-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad in 2022.
Netzah Yehuda was moved from the West Bank in 2022 and restationed in the Golan Heights. While the unit started with only 30 soldiers, today it holds close to 1,000 troops, including two full companies in training,
According to three US sources with knowledge of the issue, the sanctions will ban the battalion and its members from receiving US military assistance or training. They also told Axios that a number of other army and police units in Israel were also investigated but did not have sanctions imposed on them after they changed their behavior.
Netanyahu and others lashed out at US for the surprise move!
Resenting at Washington for the surprised sanction announcement, the Commander of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion said that “imposing sanctions on the military unit for human rights violations in absurd,” and that “the ethics of our army are higher than those of the American army.”
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reacted to the decision and said that “if anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF – I will fight it with all my strength.”
“At a time when our soldiers are fighting terrorist monsters, the intention to issue sanctions against a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low,” Netanyahu said, adding that “I’ve been working in recent weeks against the sanctioning of Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with the American administration.”
The IDF also issued a separate statement in response and said it was unaware of any sanctions in force against any of its units and added: “If a decision is made on the matter, it will be reviewed.”
The highly significant move, which would be the first time the US government has targeted an IDF unit, comes as the US Congress voted for $26bn in new emergency aid to Israel, a move that shows nothing but the US double standard when it comes to choosing between supporting Israel’s crimes in Gaza and valuing human rights.
