The Government of Benjamin Netanyahu has shown fury of unprecedented proportions against the United States in the face of the White House's probable decision to sanction the Netzah Yehuda battalion for violating human rights in the West Bank. It is a military unit known for its ideological radicalism and has a long history of being questioned due to acts of violence, but which Israel uses as a battering ram in the offensive in Gaza.
If approved, this will be the first time that the US punishes a section of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) under a law passed by Congress in 1997. Washington will prohibit these troops from receiving US assistance or training in the future. , so they could not benefit from the economic aid approved this past Saturday by the House of Representatives with Republican approval. The blacklist also has a harmful public effect. Tel Aviv fears the stain that would fall on its army at a very delicate moment, with the UN, the European Union and numerous governments questioning Netanyahu about the bloodshed in the Strip, where yesterday more than 34,100 Palestinian civilians were murdered.
An imminent decision
Secretary of State Antony Blinken dropped on Friday that the White House will rule on the sanction in the “next few days” and political observers assume it will be condemnatory. The punishment would come from an exhaustive report carried out by the US Government that detected violations of fundamental rights in the interventions of several Israeli battalions on the Palestinian population, all before the current conflict with Hamas. Most of these units will be saved from entering the list because the Israeli General Staff has already corrected its behavior, according to the information portal Axios. But in the case of Netzah Yehuda this is not the case. The violations mostly date back to the period between 2015 and 2022 in the West Bank.
Angered, the prime minister stated that “at a time when our soldiers are fighting terrorist monsters, the intention to impose sanctions against an IDF unit is the height of absurdity and low morale.” Paradoxically, Netanyahu's criticism came shortly before he exclaimed “Thank you America! Thanks friends!” When on Saturday night the US Congress approved aid of 12.1 billion euros for his country.
The simple announcement that Washington is studying the sanction has been a catharsis in the Israeli cabinet, where the far-right wing has expressed itself furiously. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called this initiative “complete madness” and “a planned measure to force Israel to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state.” The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, has gone a step further and warned the White House that imposing punishments “on our soldiers is a red line.” In the case of Ben Gvir, it rains in the wet. One of his closest allies, ultra leader Benzi Gopstein, was sanctioned on Friday by the United States in a new round – the third in six months – of punishments for settlers who act violently against Palestinians.
Ben Gvir called on the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, to stand up to Washington, at the risk of opening an inter-institutional crisis by promoting that the Netzah Yehuda battalion be removed from the discipline of the army and enter its own Ministry of Public Security as part of the National Police or the border guard, The centrist Benny Gantz, minister of the war cabinet, joined the discussion yesterday and specified that Israel has “strong and independent” courts capable of judging any possible violation. “We have great respect for our American friends, but imposing sanctions on unity is a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our enemies,” Gantz declared. The Defense Forces finally announced that they “do not recognize” the accusations.
The battalion was founded in 1999 to encourage the enlistment of haredis, ultra-Orthodox people released from military service who are guaranteed coexistence between their religious lifestyle and the discipline of the army. It is made up only of men, many of them extremist settlers, the so-called youth of the hills, and soldiers who are not accepted in other regiments. In 2005 he joined the Kfir Brigade, created to combat “Palestinian terrorism”, and concentrated its activity in the West Bank, especially in Ramallah and Jenin. In January 2023, its members were transferred to the Golan Heights, according to some sources, due to their bad reputation in West Bank territory.
“Lack of moral judgment”
The troops trail a long chain of stories, rumors, complaints, investigations and convictions for abuses, extrajudicial crimes or torture of Palestinian citizens and detainees. One of his reprehensible acts was the death of Palestinian-American Omar Assad in January 2022, which marked a turning point in focusing the attention of the American State Department. Assad was an 80-year-old resident of a West Bank village who was detained by Netzah Yehuda soldiers as he returned to his home. The soldiers gagged him, tied him up and left him outdoors all night. The next day he was found dead of a heart attack. Ned Price, then spokesman for the State Department, displayed a report that condemned the “clear lack of moral judgment” and “protection of the sanctity of any human life” displayed by the soldiers.
The controversial functionality of this brigade has not only been questioned abroad. Internally, the Ministry of Defense considered dismantling it at the time, in view of savage episodes such as torture of detainees with electric currents, beatings of civilians in the presence of their children, mistreatment of prisoners or the celebration of the murder, burning, of a Palestinian family. with her baby at the hands of settlers. The ultra ideological background of the soldiers, their frequent rejection of the legitimacy of the institutions, even disobeying the orders of the central command, and their origin – far from the social and political elites of the country, and very different from the rest of the members of the armed forces – have led them to be considered almost like a “militia.”
If the US applies the sanction this week, the Netanyahu Government will enter into a tremendously complex double conflict of interest. With Washington, its greatest international supporter and owner of the multimillion-dollar aid check; and with the ultra sector of the Executive, conspired to stop the “affront” at any price. American media claim that Blinken demonstrated absolute strength the other day. If the punishment is approved, he assured that it will be based on a “very solid” study of the battalion's activities.
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