The US plans to impose sanctions against the Israeli battalion

The US State Department intends to impose sanctions against one of the units of the Israeli Defense Forces, Netzach Yehuda. According to the American department, soldiers of this unit are violating the rights of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, Axios writes, citing sources.

Israelis from ultra-religious communities serve in the Netzach Yehuda battalion. The sanctions mean the unit cannot receive any American assistance or receive training from American instructors.

The publication’s interlocutors toldthat the decision was made on the basis of an investigation into the battalion’s activities by a special commission of the State Department. The investigation began in late 2022 following reports of military involvement in violence against Palestinians.

One of the reasons for the investigation, according to Axios, was the death in January 2022 of 78-year-old American of Palestinian origin Omar Assad. Soldiers from Netzach Yehuda detained him at a checkpoint in a West Bank village. Assad refused to be tested. The American was handcuffed and left in the cold. A few hours later he died of cardiac arrest. Two Israeli officers were subsequently fired, the newspaper writes.

In December 2022, Israel withdrew the Netzach Yehuda unit from the West Bank. After this, the battalion was mainly in the north of the country and took part in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

This will be the first time that the United States will impose sanctions against a unit of the Israeli army, Axios notes. This could be followed by other similar steps regarding IDF and Israeli police units operating in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named possible sanctions against the Netzach Yehuda battalion are the height of absurdity.