US Sanctions on Israeli Military Unit: Netanyahu Strongly Reacts – Latest News

Prime Minister Netanyahu has reacted strongly to media reports that the United States wants to impose sanctions on an Israeli military battalion for human rights violations.

American news media Axios and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported for the first time yesterday about the alleged American plans. Although the US government has not officially announced anything yet, Secretary Gantz has asked US Secretary of State Blinken to reconsider the sanction. According to government sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency, among others, the sanctions may be announced tomorrow.

If true, this would be the first time the US has sanctioned an Israeli military unit. The sanctions, according to the Israeli website Walla! News means the unit will no longer receive equipment from America. The commanders and soldiers of the battalion will no longer be allowed to participate in the joint training of the American and Israeli forces.

“I will fight with everything in my power against anyone who thinks they can impose sanctions on any unit of the Israeli army,” Netanyahu said. The radical National Security Minister Ben-Gvir also reacts strongly, saying that the sanctions “cross a red line”.

Gantz also calls the proposed decision a mistake. “I have great respect for our American allies, but sanctioning a military unit sets a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our common enemies in a time of war.” According to him, Israel has a strong and independent legal system that can investigate such cases themselves.

Israeli media and ministers say sanctions are being imposed against the Netzah Yehuda unit, a military unit of about a thousand men in which ultra-Orthodox Jews serve. The unit was active mainly in the West Bank until the end of 2022, but has since been deployed in northern Israel and the southern border of the Gaza Strip.

The expected sanctions do not relate to the group’s activities since the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza on October 7, but to human rights violations that may have been committed before the war.

The unit faced widespread criticism from the US after a Palestinian American died in 2022 after being captured by Netzah Yehuda at a checkpoint in the West Bank. The nearly eighty-year-old man had to lie on his stomach for a long time and eventually died of heart failure.

When asked by the US government, the army then said that it was a “major and unfortunate incident due to moral failure and bad decisions by the soldiers”.

One officer was warned and two others were banned from holding leadership positions, but no criminal charges were brought. Since then, America has been investigating other cases of human rights abuses by the unit.

Recently, more and more countries are imposing sanctions against Israeli settlers and groups. They were guilty of violence or calling for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Last Friday, the EU announced sanctions against four radical settlers.

Any assets they may have in Europe have been frozen and Europeans are not allowed to give them money or do business with them. The foursome are no longer allowed to travel to Europe. The US has also imposed sanctions against settlers and organizations that support settler violence against Palestinians.