Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement condemning sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after a report surfaced claiming that the Biden administration is set to blacklist a unit for alleged human rights violations in Gaza.
Top U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have been increasingly critical of Israel’s military offensive in the besieged terrority, where the mounting civilian death toll has sparked protests around the world.
When asked at a news conference in Italy on Friday about reports that the State Department has recommended the blacklisting of certain Israeli units from receiving U.S military aid over possible human rights abuses in the West Bank, Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not outright confirm the reports but said results are expected “very soon.”
Adding to the friction between the U.S. and longtime ally Israel, an Axios report published on Saturday stated that within days Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF’s “Netzah Yehuda” battalion for alleged human rights abuses.
Shortly after the Axios article was published, Netanyahu appeared to respond and denounced any sanctions imposed on IDF in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces,” the prime minister wrote. “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.”
Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday to representatives of the Biden administration and IDF for comment.
Israeli soldiers of the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox battalion “Netzah Yehuda” on May 19, 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, inset, on December 8, 2023 in Herzliya, Israel.
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP, Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty
Israeli wartime cabinet member and long-time opposition leader Benny Gantz also criticized possible sanctions on the unit in a post on X Saturday evening.
Gantz described the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion as an “inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces” and said the unit is subject to military and International laws.
“The State of Israel has a strong, independent judicial system that evaluates meticulously any claim of a violation or deviation from IDF orders and code of conduct, and will continue to do so,” Gantz said in the social media post. “I have great appreciation for our American friends, but the decision to impose sanctions on an IDF unit and its soldiers sets a dangerous precedent and conveys the wrong message to our shared enemies during wartime. I intend on acting to have this decision changed.”
The war was sparked by a raid on October 7, 2023, into southern Israel carried out by Hamas and other militant groups that left roughly 1,200 people dead and about 250 hostages taken into Gaza. Israel says roughly 130 hostages remain in the war-torn territory and 30 have died, the AP reported.
Israel promptly declared war and began firing airstrikes into Gaza, before cutting off supplies of food, fuel, energy and medicine into the territory. A ground offensive was launched into Gaza in late October.
In the nearly seven months of conflict, the Palestinian death toll has topped 34,000, with more than 76,000 wounded, according to the Associated Press (AP) citing the Gaza Health Ministry. While the Hamas-run health ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their count, they say at least two-thirds have been children and women.
The high number of Palestinian deaths has provoked accusations of Israeli war crimes and even genocide, on the premise that civilians are being intentionally targeted.
The “Netzah Yehuda” battalion, the unit targeted by the looming sanctions, first came under scrutiny by U.S. officials in 2022 when a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man died following an arrest by its soldiers.
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