US declares controversial Israeli battalion eligible for assistance
State Department says concerns over alleged rights violations have been ‘effectively remediated’.
The United States has announced that Netzah Yehuda, a controversial Israeli battalion notorious among Palestinians for repressive activities in the occupied West Bank, is eligible for US military assistance.
The administration of President Joe Biden had considered blocking the battalion from receiving US assistance amid reports of involvement in human rights violations, but Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Friday that such abuses had been “effectively remediated”.
Keep reading
list of 3 itemsWhat is Netzah Yehuda, the Israeli battalion facing possible US sanctions?
US finds Israeli units responsible for rights abuses in occupied West Bank
How the US violates its own laws to ensure military support for Israel
The Reuters news agency reported that Miller said in an email that the decision to confirm the battalion’s eligibility comes amid new information from Israel.
In 2022, soldiers from the unit handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged elderly US citizen Omar Assad and left him to die in a cold car park.
Under federal regulations known as the Leahy Law, the US is required to cut off assistance to military units involved in gross violations of human rights, but critics say that the US has long failed to apply the rule to Israel.
The law focuses on four categories of abuses in its definition of gross violations of human rights: extrajudicial killings, torture, rape as a weapon of war and enforced disappearances.
In a column for the legal forum Just Security, Charles Blaha, who directed the office of the State Department tasked with enforcing the Leahy Law from 2016 to 2023, said that today’s decision “appears directly contrary to the Leahy Law”.
“The decision strongly suggests that the US position is likely a result, in significant part, of pressure by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Months ago, when news broke that the State Department was considering Netzah Yehuda for ineligibility, Netanyahu expressed outrage and vowed to oppose application of the law,” the column reads.
“Against that backdrop, the Secretary’s decision sends a terrible message to Israel and others: that pressure on US officials works, and that Israel is essentially de facto exempt from US law.”
Sign up for Al Jazeera
Americas Coverage Newsletter
The fatal mistreatment of Assad, who was Palestinian American, sparked calls and formal requests to apply the Leahy Law to the Netzah Yehuda battalion.
The US called for accountability and a criminal investigation into the incident. However, Israel’s Military Advocate General announced in June 2023 that the soldiers would face disciplinary action but no criminal charges.
Four members of the battalion were also arrested in October 2021 for allegedly beating and sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee, and one soldier was indicted over electrocuting a Palestinian detainee in 2015.
Israeli authorities stood firmly by the side of the battalion amid reports that the US was considering cutting them off from military support in April.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who is the subject of a war crimes investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) himself, visited troops from the Netzah Yehuda battalion days after the news broke out.
“No one in the world can teach us about values and morals,” Gallant said at that time. “We are at the beginning of the war against seven armies and terrorist organisations. The security apparatus is behind you.”
Israeli soldiers who take part in attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rarely face prosecution, despite evidence of widespread rights violations. When Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, watchdog groups say soldiers often stand by or directly join the attacks themselves.
Rights groups, including the Israeli watchdog B’Tselem, say that trend has accelerated in recent years, with units in the occupied West Bank increasingly populated by far-right settlers.
Palestinians have long maintained that such cases are not isolated incidents committed by rogue soldiers, but part of a larger effort towards repression and denial of basic rights, carried out with the backing of the the Israeli government.
On Friday, US activist Amado Sison said he was shot by Israeli soldiers who opened fire on a Palestinian demonstration in the village of Beita in the occupied West Bank.
“We ran to the olive groves, through the olive groves, and they shot me in the back of the legs,” he told the AFP news agency from a hospital bed in Nablus.
The Middle East is an extremely nasty neighbourhood.
ReplyDeleteExpecting US Constitutional rights or British Common Law rights to be upheld in the neighbourhood Tak Boleh Pakai.
True but we're talking about wankee receptivity to Joo-esh neo-Nazi atrocities - will they (wankee) now have the moral rights to condemn others?
DeleteProbably three days old news, but definitely worth a share...
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/Q4zKa4fraik?si=qZk0RibAE1ZGXLCh
Nippon TV News 24 Japan
G6 countries won't attend Peace ceremony as Nagasaki not inviting Israel
Depending on what float the boat of the poster, they are passionate about, that will be what they consider as option...
ReplyDeleteTo those who ONLY follow mainstream media, poor thing, suffered and died from cancer, after two years battling with it unsuccessfully.
To those who only look at the vaxxine and suppression of news back in 2020 to 2022, she died of the effect of the jab, succumbing to the jab.
To those Qsters, she was a DS player and was executed and the cancer was a cover story because she had cooperated in someway but the gravity of her crime warranted a covered story death sentence.
To yet another group, huh, who died...?
Something like that lah...
~~~~~
https://t.me/WeTheMedia/105332
WE ARE THE CURE
Link:
https://open.substack.com/pub/stormypatriotjoe/p/case-of-the-three-cancers?r=1pysqo&utm_medium=ios
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you for supporting
https://stormypatriotjoe.substack.com/
***
August 9th, we received the news that Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki passed away from Cancer at age of 56
This is important because Susan was highlighted as a “Player” in the Q drops:
John “No Name” McCain, Sheila Jackson Lee and Susan Wojcicki were all named as Deepstate players in the Q drops. All 3 passed away from “Cancer”.
...
https://x.com/toobaffled/status/1822250656624722388?t=V25uIS6W2RwxdcHkKUJKfA&s=19
You have to wonder sometimes if these people ever put 2 and 2 together once it’s too late?
Susan Wojcicki, the fully vaccinated former YouTube CEO who was responsible for banning so-called “vaccine conspiracy theories” on the platform, has died after a two-year battle with an aggressive form of cancer.
thepeoplesvoice.tv/youtube-ceo-su…