On Saturday, just hours after the United States Congress approved $26.3 billion in an aid package for Israel amid the conflict with Hamas in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a social media post opposing U.S. sanctions.
Netanyahu's post, translated from Hebrew, reads:
Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces!**
In recent weeks, I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials
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.
The government headed by me will act by all means against these moves.
Reports from Israeli media indicate that U.S. State Department officials have confirmed that it is preparing to sanction the Israeli Defense Forces' Netzah Yehuda battalion, marking the first time the U.S. government has targeted an IDF unit directly and sparking immediate opposition from Israeli political leaders, including Netanyahu.
The Netzah Yehuda battalion, part of the Kfir brigade, was established in 1999 to accommodate recruits from ultra-Orthodox and national religious communities, including those from reportedly "extremist settlements." It has historically been primarily deployed in the West Bank.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he had made "determinations" regarding the claim that Israel had violated the Leahy Law. The looming sanctions are to be enacted under the 1997 law, which applies to units that commit gross violations of human rights. The sanctions will restrict the transfer of U.S. military aid to the unit and prohibit soldiers and officers from participating in training with the U.S. military or other programs funded by the U.S.
Speaking from the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Italy, Blinken responded to a reporter's inquiry about the findings of the State Department panel known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum. He said:
I think you're referring to the so-called Leahy Law and our work under that. So this is a very important law. And it's one that we apply across the board. And when we're doing these investigations, these inquiries, it's something that takes time. That has to be done very carefully, both in collecting the facts and analyzing them. And that's exactly what we've done. And I think it's fair to say that you'll see results very soon. I made determinations. You can expect to see them in the days ahead.
According to investigative reports in ProPublica, the events in question occurred in the West Bank and were predominantly prior to the conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which commenced after the October 7th attacks and kidnappings of Israeli citizens.
The reports include allegations of extrajudicial killings by the Israeli Border Police. One alleged incident involved an elderly Palestinian-American man in which a battalion gagged, handcuffed, and left him for dead. Another allegation involves a teenager being raped and tortured after being accused of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Recommendations for action against Israeli units were sent to Blinken in December, according to one person familiar with the memo. Another official told ProPublica:
They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then.
The plan to impose sanctions on the IDF unit is part of a larger pattern of international sanctions being enforced in the West Bank. This was highlighted by separate announcements from the EU and US on Friday, where new sanctions were directed towards far-right Israeli groups and NGOs. It's worth noting that the Biden administration has taken a more vocal stance in criticizing Israeli actions, specifically in the West Bank, in comparison to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
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