world news
US military aid may be withheld over alleged human rights abuses by haredi units – CNN
Former Commanders of Netzah Yehuda battalion have been allowed to climb IDF ranks despite the US State Department finding in April that five units within the battalion violated human rights in incidents pre-dating Hamas’s October 7 attack, CNN reported on Saturday. The department is now considering withholding military aid as some fail to remedy their behavior.
While the CNN investigation explicitly looked at Netza Yehuda, current and former US officials said that the department was examining other IDF units as well. An additional three units were found to have committed human rights violations prior to October 7, the officials claimed.
Four of the five Netzah Yehuda units had, according to the department’s findings, had “effectively remediated” themselves.
The United States reportedly considered withholding military aid from the remaining unit, which did not correct itself following the discovery of violations, but no decision has yet been made.Awaiting the decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF, I will fight with all my strength.”
A department spokesperson told CNN that it had “concluded that several Israeli security force units were credibly implicated in gross violations of human rights” and that for four of those, the Israeli government had “taken effective steps to bring those responsible to justice.”
“We continue to assess reports of GVHRs by Israeli security forces, in accordance with the law, and all US security assistance to Israel is provided consistent with domestic and international law,” the spokesperson added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter seen by CNN. In it, Blinken said the US was working with Israel “on identifying a path to effective remediation” for the Netzah Yehuda battalion. Blinken did not explicitly name the remaining unit.
About Netzah Yehuda and the controversy surrounding it
The battalion was created in 1999 to facilitate ultra-Orthodox Jews’ religious requirements while they fulfilled their service in the military.
The unit has been accused of abuses in the West Bank over the last 10 years. In one case, leading to the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man, CNN reported. Omar Assad, 78, was reportedly held gagged and bound. After freeing Assad, he was reportedly abandoned while unresponsive and died of a heart attack.
After investigating the death of Assad, the IDF concluded the incident was the result of “a moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.” It promised to see Lt. Col. Mati Shevach reprimanded and the platoon commander and company commander removed from their positions.
Shevach, despite being reprimanded for the incident, was later promoted to deputy commander of the Kfir Brigade, which oversees Netzah Yehuda. After two years in this role, Shevach transferred to a role allowing him to train forces at the military’s Urban Warfare Training Center.
In a similar case, Lt. Col. Nitai Okashi, who oversaw the Netzah Yehuda battalion from 2018 until 2020, received a number of promotions, which led him to commanding roles. These promotions were given despite 14 soldiers from his unit being arrested for assaulting a Bedouin man in the West Bank in 2019. In an earlier incident, Okashi spoke in support of some of his soldiers in court in January of that year after the soldiers were filmed beating and verbally abusing a father and son in the West Bank, CNN reported.
Asked to comment on the leadership mentioned in the above incidents, the IDF told, CNN “It should be noted that in relation to the events that took place in 2015 and 2019 … the involved had been indi,cted and the military court had imposed prison sentences in both cases, along with additional punishments.”
A former unit member told CNN that Palestinians were subjected to excessive and violent treatment by Netza Yehuda soldiers. The anonymous member also claimed that commanders encouraged vigilante violence against Palestinians.
The whistleblower feared that the promotion of commanders from Netza Yehuda into other battalions and roles would spread criminal behavior throughout the IDF.
“A lot of us probably did not see Arabs, Palestinians in particular, as someone with rights – okay, like they’re really the occupier of some of the land, and they need to be moved,” he said, explaining the mentality of the units.
The soldier added that his unit was well exercised in performing acts of “collective punishment [against] Palestinians.”
Responding to CNN’s request for comment on the alleged abuses, the IDF asserted that the battalion “operates in a professional and ethical manner” and that its soldiers and commanders “act according to the orders and protocols expected of soldiers in the IDF.”
The IDF also assured CNN that it would investigate “every exceptional incident” that and would be responsible.
The other Israeli units accused of human rights violations
The Yamam unit was accused of violations over the killing of Ahmad Jamil Fahd, who was shot by counterterrorism forces in 2021 near Ramallah; the alleged shooting of Bedouin man Sanad Salaam al-Harbad by Israel Border Police in Rahat in March 2022 and the alleged rape of a teenager at the Russian Compound (Moscobiyya detention center) in Jerusalem in 2021 by an interrogator from the Israeli Internal Security Forces.
Former director of the State Department’s political-military affairs bu,reau Josh ,Paul told CNN that there was “not even the slightest basis” to believe the three aforementioned units had made efforts to reform.
Speaking on the alleged rape of a teenage boy in custody during a previous interview, Paul said that the allegation was credible. He alleged a charity had informed the State Department of the allegation and that Israel proceeded to shut down the charity’s base shortly after.
“Do you know what happened the next day? The IDF went into the [charity’s] offices and removed all their computers and declared them a terrorist entity,” Paul told CNN.
Alleged violations after October 7
CNN cited three examples of alleged violations conducted by the IDF after October 7.
While admitting that CNN couldn’t verify the civilian death count provided by Hamas or Israel, it cited the successful hostage rescue mission, which saw four hostages released from captivity in June. The hostages were being held in the Nuseirat refugee camp, and a firefight between terrorists and the IDF during the rescue mission led to “under 100 deaths,” according to Israel. Hamas claimed the number of casualties to have reached over 270. However, Hamas has regularly inflated numbers and fails to distinguish between civilians and combatants.
In addition to the rescue mission, CNN reported Israeli Border Police shot and killed a 3-year-old Palestinian girl in the West Bank in January and a 12-year-old boy in east Jerusalem in March.
Paul told CNN that, under the Leahy Law (1997), the US would be prohibited from supplying military aid to foreign security units credibly implicated in human rights violations.
“Had the US used the leverage that Leahy laws provide over the years to encourage the IDF to crack down on misbehavior and to snuff out its current culture of impunity, we would have seen at the very least a much stronger unit discipline at a tactical level,” said Paul.
Commanders, such as those promoted from the Netza Yehuda battalions, would also be under vetting under the Leahy Law.
Everyone wants the Mossad on their side when it comes to the debate over the Philadelphi Corridor.
The Jerusalem Post has reported multiple times since May that the unchanging position of the Mossad is that Israel can and should withdraw from the corridor if that would bring back between 18-30 hostages and provided Phase 1 of the hostage deal with Hamas would allow the IDF to return to attacking Hamas in the corridor after around 45 days.
The Post and other outlets have also reported that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the IDF high command favor a deal under such terms, including temporarily withdrawing from the corridor to get some of the hostages back.
Yet on Sunday, an anonymous source who was present during the most recent diplomatic-security cabinet meeting leaked to the media that Mossad Director David Barnea supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position not to withdraw from the corridor.In fact, the anonymous source went even further saying that Barnea did not think Netanyahu should move toward Hamas on the issue “even one millimeter.”
Although… actually, that is not what the anonymous source said if the leaked statement is looked at carefully. Rather, it made a messy and hazy statement about Barnea supporting the Israeli position on the corridor to the extent that it would be acceptable to the US.Anyone who has followed the US position knows that it wishes Israel had stopped the war in December-January and for sure by May, and has tried everything it could to pressure Netanyahu to withdraw from the corridor.
Now, once the US said it could not get Netanyahu to completely withdraw from the corridor, it started to explore if it could get Hamas and Egypt to agree to a small Israeli presence in portions of the corridor, while otherwise generally withdrawing. That is not the same thing as thinking that Netanyahu’s stance on the corridor is the right move.The Mossad is in a somewhat similar position.
Mossad’s current position
There are some points where the Mossad’s position is tougher than the US position, but generally, since May, Barnea has been closer to the US, IDF, and Gallant’s view that it is time to cut a deal, even temporarily sacrificing control of the corridor, than he has been to Netanyahu’s staunch opposition to concessions in that area.
Also, usually, when the Mossad puts something out backing Netanyahu in negotiations, it is in its own name, not in the name of some anonymous cabinet official.The absence of a direct statement of support for Netanyahu from the Mossad itself is deafening.
So why is someone (from Netanyahu’s side) trying to pretend that the Mossad stands with the prime minister on this? Bodies of six hostages, who had been alive until last week, were just recovered.Netanyahu is under the greatest domestic pressure in Israel to compromise that he has been under possibly since the start of the war.
As he explains his position to the public, if he can claim that the defense establishment is split – IDF versus the Mossad – then he does not stand alone. His position looks principled and part of a serious strategy instead of about politics. Likewise, Gallant and the IDF want the Mossad on their side so they can present a united professionals’ front versus a political front. The truth is even without the Mossad, there is some principled opposition to cutting a deal if the question is saving the most Jewish lives on a long-term basis by ensuring Hamas is destroyed. But this also requires saying out loud that Netanyahu would be willing to let hostages die as a price to achieve that goal – because that is what happened this past week. Netanyahu is not ready to do this, so instead he would prefer if the battle can be about who supports who and a divide within the defense establishment.However, the more hostages die, there also becomes less incentive for a deal to save the shrinking total number of them still alive.
Whatever the Mossad’s view is, there is no question at this point that Netanyahu is the decider about the question of saving hostages versus keeping the corridor.
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has delayed again its decision on a Palestinian bid to have Israel suspended from international soccer over the war in Gaza.
FIFA said late on Friday it would now consider the Palestine Football Association’s (PFA) proposals against the Israel Football Association (IFA) in October.
The PFA had submitted a proposal to suspend Israel in May, with FIFA ordering an urgent legal evaluation and promising to address it at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.
FIFA said last month the legal assessment would now be shared with its council by Aug. 31.The Zurich-based body said it had now moved the assessment back to October.
“FIFA has received the independent legal assessment of the Palestine Football Association’s proposals against Israel,” FIFA said.
“This assessment will be sent to the FIFA Council to review in order that the subject can be discussed at its next meeting which will take place in October.”
FIFA declined to give further details of the assessment, or when in October the meeting would take place.
The PFA did not respond to requests for comment.
Accusations against the IFA
The Palestinian proposal accuses the IFA of complicity in violations of international law by the Israeli government, discrimination against Arab players, and inclusion in its league of clubs located in Palestinian territory.
The IFA has rejected the allegations.
The PFA has said at least 92 Palestinian players have been killed in the war, football infrastructure has been destroyed, its leagues suspended and its national team required to play World Cup qualifiers abroad.
In its proposal, the PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israeli teams, including the national side and clubs.
The IDF is doing a better job at catching Palestinian terrorists than Jewish ones.
Anecdotal evidence and statistical evidence both bear this out.
As of August 2024, there were 9,881 Palestinian security inmates being held by Israel.
3,432 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention along with 1,584 Palestinian “unlawful combatants,” 2,074 sentenced prisoners, and 2,791 pre-indictment or pre-conviction detainees.We also know that in the West Bank alone, close to 5,000 Palestinians have been detained over the course of the war.
Sometimes Palestinian terrorists are not immediately caught after an attack, but quite often they are, and it is very rare that they are not caught or killed within a period of weeks or months.
Yet, in multiple February 2023 incidents of Jewish terrorists attacking Palestinians in Huwara, we know that out of hundreds of Jewish attackers, less than 10 were arrested, and an even smaller number seem to be getting prosecuted.
So far out of over 100 Jewish terrorists who attacked the Palestinian village of Jit in mid-August, only four have been detained.
These trends are not new.
Outgoing IDF Central Commander for the West Bank, Maj. Gen, Yedhua Fuchs, said this in his final speech on July 8, current Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar recently accused officials like National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of sometimes indirectly and sometimes almost explicitly encouraging the phenomenon, and former Shin Bet and IDF Central Commanders have been sounding somewhat similar warnings on and off certainly since 2014.
The IDF and Shin Bet have also accused Ben Gvir of discouraging the police from reining in Jewish violence, whether in the West Bank or against humanitarian aid trucks trying to get to Kerem Shalom to bring food to Gaza Palestinians earlier in the current war.
There has been extremist Jewish violence against Palestinians with significantly below expectations arrests for many years, even though that violence is still at a much lower volume than Palestinian violence.
The problem isn’t bringing caught perpetrators to justice, that has been happening many times since 2014, when Palestinians have been killed by a Jew or Jews.
Once caught, Israel has pushed hard to prosecute such persons.
On August 15, the Jerusalem Post reported exclusively that the 2019 indictment against a full-bodied minor (his identity is under gag order) for the alleged killing of Palestinian female and mother Aysha Rabi in October 2018 could be close to a verdict in later 2024 or early 2025.
This would not be the only such case of Jewish terrorists facing justice for violence against Palestinians, with the 2014 murderer of Palestinian minor Muhammad Abu Khadir, Yoseph Chaim Ben David, and the 2015 murderer of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family, Amiram Ben Uliel, both sentenced to life in jail in recent years.
Elor Ben Azariah, Ben Deri, and other IDF soldiers have also been given prison time for killing Palestinians.
But this does not address the fact that most Jewish terrorists are never caught in the first place.
So why does Israel catch Jewish terrorists less often than Palestinian ones?
Some of it is the constant passing the ball back and forth between the IDF and the Police, neither of who wants the politically unpopular job of reining in Jewish violence against Palestinians.
Anyone who does that job “well” in recent years comes under attack by Ben Gvir and others who seem to always be opposed to indicting or convicting Jews accused of attacking Palestinians.
Top IDF sources have made it clear to the Post that the military’s main role is to fight wars against other foreign militaries like Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, not to enforce law and order to block small-scale Jewish violence against Palestinians. They believe that the police should be handling Jewish violence in the West Bank, whereas the police, even before Ben Gvir, said they could not carry out large operations in Palestinian areas without the IDF taking the lead.
What has changed since Huwara in 2023 and now with Jit, is that the attacks by Jews on Palestinians are no longer solely small scale.
Now there is a pattern of large scale attacks even if the number of them is still small in relative terms.
During the Second Intifada, Israel decided that it could not view Palestinian terrorism from the West Bank as a mere “law enforcement” issue with very limited rules of engagement.
Rather, it was a terrorism issue, which meant more aggressive rules of engagement.
If a Palestinian throws a rock at an IDF vehicle and breaks the windshield and then flees, even if no one in the IDF vehicle was hurt and even though the Palestinian is running away, and as such no longer presents an immediate threat, IDF open fire rules allow shooting for the Palestinian’s legs to make sure he does not escape.
At Jit, despite over 100 Jews attacking Palestinians and the IDF soldiers “live being in danger” from the Jews as well, all they did was physically push the Jewish attackers out of the village and at most fire in the air.
Sources said that they failed to arrest any of the over 100 Jews because it was hard to catch the attackers running in all different directions at night.
But if the soldiers were allowed to shoot for the legs when trying to arrest Jews involved in large scale attacks, maybe they would have caught more of them. Maybe also fewer Jews would risk attacking Palestinians.
Confronted with this possible change to the open fire rules, both current and former IDF officials who handle such issues did not seem to view such a change as remotely likely.
Some said this question was very dependent on the unique circumstances on the ground, which only the commander seeing things in real time could decide. Others said that there was no principled reason why IDF soldiers could not open fire on the legs of fleeing Jewish attackers, but that this could only be employed if there was no less lethal way of arresting them.
Yet, these responses present the issue as if there is not already evidence that the IDF is doing an extremely poor job of catching such people.
4 out of 100 is a 4% success rate. Clearly, less lethal means are not working and whoever the commander on the ground has been has not acted aggressively enough. This was also the conclusion of the IDF probe issued on Wednesday of the Jit incident.
A much more honest read is that IDF soldiers shooting at Jews legs (even not trying to kill) to protect Palestinians would just be either too politically explosive or likely too many IDF soldiers would ignore the orders and fake some technical sounding reason why they could not fire (such as innocent people being mixed in with attackers.)
There might be creative alternatives. Firing some kind of tracer that cannot be removed or object which could sedate someone trying to flee.
A huge permanent contingent of soldiers guarding all crossover areas throughout the West Bank could succeed, but is also unrealistic in terms of resources.
In the meantime, it is not clear that the IDF has seriously contended with how it will prevent the next Huwara or Jit. If that does not change, no one should be surprised when another IDF probe comes out apologizing for failing to protect Palestinians.
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