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.
After Trump took office as US President, reports were published that the new administration is demanding the deportation of the terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who was responsible for the attack of the Sbarro restaurant, from Jordanian territory. Tamimi was released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011 after being sentenced to 16 life sentences.
In 2017, the US Department of Justice published a criminal complaint and issued an arrest warrant against al-Tamimi. The FBI added her to the top of its most wanted list and offered a cash reward for her extradition and prosecution.
Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who represents the family of Channa Nachenberg, an American citizen who was critically injured in the attack at the Sbarro restaurant, is now revealing the actions taken behind the scenes, and that she was even called to an emergency meeting with the US Department of Justice’s counterterrorism task force.
The meeting was at the King David Hotel and attended by U.S. federal prosecutors and the FBI. At the meeting the American officials revealed that they were making public an indictment of Hamas terrorist Ahlam al-Tamimi who had assisted in the bombing of Sbarros.Al-Tamimi had been released from an Israeli prison during a prisoner release in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and was living in Jordan. Al-Tamimi hosted a popular radio talk show where she regularly boasted about her membership in Hamas and the bombing she was involved in in Jerusalem.
Although the U.S. had demanded that Jordan extradite the freed terrorist responsible for the murder of 2 U.S. citizens and the maiming of many others such as Nachenberg, the Hashemite Kingdom refused. Jordan claimed there was no extradition treaty between Amaan and Washington.
Now as a prerequisite to meeting with President Trump the U.S. has demanded that King Hussein either deport the terrorist to a third country or extradite her to the U.S.
According to attorney Darshan-Leitner: “We have been waiting since the terrorist’s release in 2011 for the Americans to really demand her extradition. We were hopeful that this unrepentant terrorist murderer who has much Israeli and American blood on her hands, will finally be locked up, but this time with no chance of freedom. It’s outrageous that she was released by Israel and was allowed to live a life of comfort and freedom in Jordan. God willing she’ll finally face a real punishment for her Jew hatred and the lives she destroyed.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Egypt’s foreign minister on Tuesday it was important to ensure Hamas terrorists can never govern Gaza again, the State Department said, with their call coming after President Donald Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians.
Trump on Saturday floated a plan to “clean out” Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, in comments that echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes.
The suggestion by Trump was not mentioned in the US State Department statement released on Tuesday after the call between Rubio and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
Jordan and Egypt had pushed back over the weekend after Trump’s comments that they should take in Palestinians from Gaza. Asked if this was a temporary or long-term solution, Trump had said: “Could be either.”“He (Rubio) also reinforced the importance of holding Hamas accountable,” the State Department said after Tuesday’s call.
“The Secretary reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again.”
Context
Rubio held a call a day earlier with Jordan’s King Abdullah, and the US statement after that call, too, did not mention Trump’s remarks on Palestinian displacement.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
An Israeli aircraft attacked in the Tulkarm area as part of an IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) joint operation, the military announced on Monday.
Later reports in Israeli media clarified that the airstrike occurred in the Nur a-Shams refugee camp.
Footage from the scene indicates that a car was destroyed, leading to an explosive fire with a pillar of smoke rising into the sky.
Two Palestinians were in the vehicle at the time of the airstrike, according to Palestinians quoted in Israeli media.The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that one of the passengers was killed and the other was moderately injured, according to Israeli media reports.
Wider context
This comes amid the IDF’s Operation Iron Wall, aiming to remove Palestinian terrorists from Jenin and the wider area.
The IDF began a wide-ranging operation on Palestinian terror in Jenin last Tuesday, killing several terrorists in the mission meant to last a minimum of several days and potentially much longer.
The campaign, dubbed “Operation Iron Wall,” includes drones and helicopter air support. There were also reportedly tanks in the vicinity – although not entering Jenin – and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Duvdevan, Egoz, other special forces, and engineering forces from Battalion 90 were all involved.
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