US considers sanctions against Israeli battalion. Netanyahu promised to oppose them – World

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to oppose any sanctions against the country’s army after reports that the US plans to cut aid to part of it, the BBC reported.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would “fight with all his might” against such a move.

Earlier, the Axios news site reported that the US plans to sanction the Israeli Netza Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.

Asked last week about reports that US military aid to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units could be cut due to allegations of human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “I have made decisions, you can expect to see them yes in the coming days”.

Washington, Israel’s main ally, has never stopped aid to an IDF unit before.

The Israeli military claims that the Netza Yehuda battalion acted in accordance with international law.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant called on the US to withdraw its intention to sanction Netza Yehuda, saying the world is watching US-Israel ties more closely than ever.

“Any attempt to criticize an entire unit casts a heavy shadow over the actions of the IDF,” Gallant said in a statement, adding that “this is not the right path for partners and friends.”

“If someone thinks they can impose sanctions on part of the IDF, I will fight them,” Netanyahu commented

All the alleged violations took place before Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Any decision to bar part of the IDF from receiving US military aid would be made under the “Leahy Act” of 1997, named after then-Senator Patrick Leahy. It prevents the use of US funding or training for foreign military units credibly involved in gross human rights abuses.

Last year, a group of US officials known as the Israel-Lehi Review Forum looked into at least a dozen allegations against Israeli units, including the Netza Yehuda Battalion, a former senior US official told the BBC.

“We believed that in most cases they were not removed — in other words, the perpetrators were not held accountable,” said Josh Paul, former director of the State Department’s Bureau of Political and Military Affairs, which oversees U.S. arms transfers. .

“When we tried to take these recommendations to the Secretary of State, we never got them through at a political level,” he added.

Paul resigned from his position in November in protest at the lack of accountability for arms transfers to Israel. Asked if the recommendations he mentioned had reached Blinken’s desk, he cited recent media reports suggesting they had.

Established in 1999, Netza Yehuda is a special male-only section where ultra-Orthodox Jews serve.