Who are the Netzah Yehuda, the Israeli army unit facing US sanctions, leaving Netanyahu furious?

The US is about to impose sanctions for the first time on an army unit of Israel’s ironclad ally, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to AxiosUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the Israeli army’s “Netzah Yehuda” battalion in the coming days.

The Netzah Yehuda is accused of human rights abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The outlet said in its report that the battalion and its members should not receive assistance or training from the U.S. military. In 1997, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy authored a law banning U.S. foreign assistance and Department of Defense training programs to accommodate foreign security, military, and police units facing credible allegations of human rights abuses.

It is also called the Leahy Law.

“Expect to see them in the coming days,” Blinken told Axios after a meeting in Italy. The report also noted that the sanctions are based on the unit’s actions in the West Bank before the October 7 attacks. .

The sanctions have angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Sanctions should not be imposed on the Israeli army! In recent weeks, I have opposed the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior US government officials,” said Benjamin Netanyahu.

“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 point. The government led by me will oppose these steps by all means necessary,” the Israeli Prime Minister said in a message on X.

The report states that several other IDF and police units have been investigated by US authorities and will not be sanctioned because they have corrected their conduct.

Who are the Netzah Yehuda

The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is a battalion in the Kfir Brigade of the Israeli Army that was created to enable religious Israelis to serve in the military in an atmosphere that respects their religious beliefs.

It is a battalion that works as a special unit and consists of ultra-Orthodox soldiers, all men. Many young settlers in the West Bank, who lean to the right or right on the political spectrum and who were not allowed into any other IDF combat units, made the Netzah Yehuda their home.

The group’s actions came to the attention of the US State Department following reports of several incidents of violence against Palestinian civilians towards the end of 2022. The death of 80-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad in January 2022 also led to the US The State Department is closely studying the actions of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion.

The Israeli government moved the battalion to the Golan Heights due to incidents of its soldiers using violence against Palestinian civilians.