US decides not to restrict military aid to Israeli unit accused of human rights violations
The decision not to restrict military assistance to the Netzah Yehuda battalion came months after the United States accused it and four other Israeli security units of committing the gross violations of human rights, which occurred before the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The State Department said in April that the other four had “effectively remediated these violations.”
Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox unit of the IDF, was transferred from the West Bank to the Golan Heights in 2022. The commander of the unit was reprimanded in late January 2022 after the death of 78-year-old Palestinian American, Omar Assad, who died of a heart attack after being detained, bound and gagged, according to the IDF. No soldiers faced criminal charges related to Assad’s death.
CNN reported last month that former commanders of that unit have been promoted to senior positions in the IDF and are active in training Israeli ground troops as well as running operations in Gaza.
“The Department has for the past several months continued to review an additional unit to evaluate new information provided by the Government of Israel,” Miller said in his statement. “After thoroughly reviewing that information, we have determined that violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated. Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America.”
Under the Leahy Law, the US cannot provide assistance to foreign security units that are credibly implicated in human rights abuses, but there is an exception “permitting resumption of assistance to a unit if the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the government of the country is taking effective steps to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.”
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel on Monday described the remediation measures as two soldiers from the battalion being removed from combat positions and marked as ineligible to serve in the reserves, enhancing screening requirements for those recruited to Netzah Yehuda, and putting in place new control mechanisms during training.
It is unclear when those measures were taken and when the information was provided to the US.
The Biden administration has come under scrutiny for what critics say is a failure to pressure Israel on its prosecution of the war in Gaza. The US has continually said that Israel must do more to mitigate civilian harm in the Palestinian enclave but has done little beyond those rhetorical calls to change the Israeli government’s behavior. Just this weekend, at least 93 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school and mosque sheltering displaced people in Gaza, according to local officials.
In the case of Netzah Yehuda, the Biden administration also faced criticism for appearing to bend to pressure by the Israeli government to hold off on any punitive measures against the unit. Top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed sharp criticism to the reports of impending action by the US.
“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,” Netanyahu posted on X in April when reports emerged of possible punitive measures.
“The government headed by me will act by all means against these moves,” he added.
The State Department at the time pushed back on the idea that Israel was “being offered unique treatment” by being granted more time to present information to hold off potential punishment.
Despite the criticism, the Biden administration decided to continue providing military assistance to Netzah Yehuda, following the State Department's determination that the unit had effectively remediated its past human rights violations, as stipulated by the Leahy Law. This decision, however, has sparked further debate in the realm of politics, with critics arguing that the administration should be more assertive in pressing Israel to address human rights concerns in Gaza.
