The United States is expected to impose sanctions as soon as Monday on an Israeli military unit over allegations of human rights abuses against Palestinians, marking an unprecedented move that has drawn fierce condemnation from Israeli leaders.
While US officials have not named the unit, Israeli media has identified it as the Netzah Yehuda battalion, comprised of ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers. The sanctions would be the first ever imposed by the US on an Israeli military unit.
The expected decision could further strain relations between the two allies, which have become increasingly tense during Israel's ongoing war against Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.
"If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit in the IDF, I will fight it with all my might," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. He was joined by other top officials in denouncing the anticipated US move, especially during active warfare including former military chief and current member of the War Cabinet Benny Gantz. The minister alerted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the emerging decision regarding the sanctions was a mistake, saying there was no justification for it since Israel has a strong and independent judicial system.
Netzah Yehuda, which means "Judea Forever" in Hebrew, has been based in the West Bank, where it makes up a small part of Israel's military force. Some members have faced allegations of abusing Palestinians over the years.
The unit drew heavy criticism from Washington last year after the death of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man who died shortly after being detained at a West Bank checkpoint. While the US called for accountability, an Israeli investigation found no grounds for criminal charges, since military investigators stated they couldn't directly link the soldiers' actions to Assad's death.
According to Gadi Shamni, a former Israeli general who previously commanded military forces in the West Bank, a major issue with the unit was its permanent activity solely in that area. He noted levels of violence involving settlers and Palestinians have sharply increased in the West Bank over recent years. Shamni stated that, unlike Netzah Yehuda, other military units are regularly rotated in and out of the volatile region. However, Shamni argued that it would have been preferable to take disciplinary action against specific soldiers or commanders instead of the unit as a whole.
Blinken, Defending the expected move against the unit, said on Friday that the anticipated sanctions follow reviews by the US of several Israeli military units over potential violations of the Leahy Law, which prohibits foreign assistance to forces implicated in human rights abuses.
But top Israeli officials pushed back forcefully. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said penalizing the unit could "cast a shadow over the entire Israeli military" and lamented to the US ambassador "that's not the way to behave with partners and friends."
Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, now the opposition leader, called the sanctions "a mistake" and said "we must act to cancel them." He argued, "The source of the problem is not at the military level but at the political level."
With Israeli officials vowing not to accept the U.S. rebuke quietly, the coming days could see an extraordinarily tense moment in relations between the closest allies in the Middle East.
