US says it won't halt aid to Israeli military unit accused of human rights violations

The department determined in April that the unit, had committed abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that were serious enough to prompt the invocation of the Leahy Law, which bans US training or the provision of US equipment for foreign troops who commit 'gross human rights violations' like rape, murder or torture.

Washington: The Biden administration will not block US security assistance to an Israeli military unit found to have committed human rights violations, after Israel's government took steps to prevent further offenses, the State Department said Friday.

The department determined in April that the unit, the Netzah Yehuda battalion, had committed abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that were serious enough to prompt the invocation of the Leahy Law, which bans US training or the provision of US equipment for foreign troops who commit "gross human rights violations" like rape, murder or torture.

In April, when it became public that the United States was considering imposing sanctions on Israeli battalions accused of human rights violations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders called the possibility "the peak of absurdity and a moral low" at a time when Israeli forces were fighting a war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.

But Israel took sufficient action to meet the Leahy Law's criteria for "remediation," in the form of justice and accountability, to make the unit eligible for continued American assistance, the State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement Friday. The statement did not specifically name Netzah Yehuda, but officials have said it was the only Israeli unit under such scrutiny.

After spending months evaluating information provided by Israel's government, Miller said, the department found that the unit's violations -- which occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the current war with Hamas in Gaza -- had "been effectively remediated." It added: "Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America."

A US official said that Israel had provided the Biden administration with information showing that two soldiers who Israeli military prosecutors said should be disciplined had left the Israeli military and were ineligible to serve in the reserves.

The official also said that the Israeli military had taken other steps to prevent further offenses, including enhanced screening for new recruits and the implementation of a two-week educational seminar for such recruits.

Netzah Yehuda, created to accommodate the religious practices of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, has been repeatedly accused of mistreating Palestinians. The charges against the unit include binding and gagging a 78-year-old Palestinian American who died of a heart attack while in military custody in January 2022.

The unit was transferred in 2022 from the West Bank to the Golan Heights in northern Israel, according to an April letter on the matter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

That letter revealed that the State Department had found that two other Israeli military units and two civilian authority units had committed gross human rights violations, but that Israel had also taken adequate remedial steps in response to those cases.

The State Department notified Congress this week of its intent to disburse $3.5 billion in new military aid to Israel from a supplemental budget bill approved earlier, the department said in a statement. The disbursement was expected to go forward in 15 days. Israel is expected use the money to purchase arms from the US government or from American companies.