US says it’s reviewing new information about Israeli unit accused of abuses before Gaza war
WASHINGTON — The US has determined that an Israeli military unit committed gross human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the war in Gaza began six months ago, but it will delay any decision on aid to the battalion while it assesses new information. by Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The undated letter, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, suspends a U.S. decision on whether it would for the first time ever block U.S. aid to an Israeli military unit over its treatment of Palestinians. Israeli leaders have angrily protested such aid cuts ahead of this week’s US decision.
Blinken emphasized that US military support for Israel’s defense against Hamas and other threats would not be affected by the State Department’s final decision on the single unit. Johnson pushed through legislation providing $26 billion in additional resources for Israel’s defense and to alleviate the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The US statement concerns one Israeli unit and its actions against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. Although the unit is not identified in Blinken’s letter, it is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda, which has historically been based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians in the Palestinian territory, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man after his detention by the battalion’s forces in 2022.
Blinken said the Israeli government has so far failed to adequately address abuses by the military unit. But “the Israeli government has presented new information regarding the status of the unit and we will engage in identifying a path to effective remediation for this unit,” he wrote.
A 1997 law known as the Leahy Act requires the US to halt military aid to any foreign military unit it believes has committed serious violations of international law or human rights. But the law allows for an exemption if the military has held perpetrators accountable and taken action to reform the unit.
The Leahy Act has never been invoked against close ally Israel.
The U.S. review comes as protests and counterprotests over U.S. military assistance to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza are roiling American college campuses and electoral politics at home and relations abroad.
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Lee contributed from Beijing.