US decides not to restrict military aid to Israeli unit accused of human rights violations

The US will not restrict military aid to an Israeli Defense Forces unit accused of committing violations of human rights against Palestinians in the West Bank after determining the violations were “effectively remediated,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement obtained by CNN on Monday.

The US will not restrict military aid to an Israeli Defense Forces unit accused of committing violations of human rights against Palestinians in the West Bank after determining the violations were “effectively remediated,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement obtained by CNN on Monday. The decision not to restrict military assistance to the Netzah Yehuda battalion came months after the United States accused it and four other Israeli security units of committing the gross violations of human rights, which occurred before the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The State Department said in April that the other four had “effectively remediated these violations.” Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox unit of the IDF, was transferred from the West Bank to the Golan Heights in 2022. The commander of the unit was reprimanded in late January 2022 after the death of 78-year-old Palestinian American, Omar Assad, who died of a heart attack after being detained, bound and gagged, according to the IDF. No soldiers faced criminal charges related to Assad’s death. CNN reported last month that former commanders of that unit have been promoted to senior positions in the IDF and are active in training Israeli ground troops as well as running operations in Gaza. “The Department has for the past several months continued to review an additional unit to evaluate new information provided by the Government of Israel,” Miller said in his statement. “After thoroughly reviewing that information, we have determined that violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated. Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America.” Under the Leahy Law, the US cannot provide assistance to foreign security units that are credibly implicated in human rights abuses, but there is an exception “permitting resumption of assistance to a unit if the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the government of the country is taking effective steps to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.”