Former commanders from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion have been allowed to climb the IDF’s ranks despite the US State Department’s findings in April that five units within the battalion violated human rights in events pertaining to incidents predating the October 7 massacre, CNN reported on Saturday.
Further, current and former US officials said that the department was examining other IDF units in this regard as well. An additional three units were found to have committed human rights violations prior to October 7, they claimed.
As a result, the US is considering sanctioning some units in the form of withholding military aid.
Four of the five Netzah Yehuda units had, according to the department’s findings, “effectively remediated” themselves.
Nevertheless, the US reportedly considered withholding military aid from the remaining unit, which did not correct itself following the discovery of the violations, but no decision has yet been made.
Awaiting the decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “If anyone thinks that they can impose sanctions on an IDF unit, I will fight with all my strength” against such an attempt.
A department spokesperson told CNN that it had “concluded that several Israeli security force units were credibly implicated in gross violations of human rights [GVHRs]” and that for four of these, 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.
According to America’s 1977 Leahy Laws, GVHRs require the government to refrain from aiding foreign bodies should they be found guilty of GVHR offenses.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson seen by CNN, that the US was working with Israel “on identifying a path to effective remediation” for the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. Blinken did not specify which remaining unit, in the department’s opinion, has yet to rectify its conduct.
About Netzah Yehuda and the controversy surrounding it
The battalion was created in 1999 to facilitate ultra-Orthodox religious requirements while haredim fulfilled their military service duty.
Specifically, the battalion has been accused of abuses in the West Bank over the last 10 years, and in one case, this led to the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man, CNN reported. Omar Assad, 78, was reportedly gagged and bound. After freeing Assad, he was reportedly abandoned while unresponsive, after which he died of a heart attack.
After investigating Assad’s death, the IDF concluded that the incident was the result of “a moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.” It promised that Lt.-Col. Mati Shevach, who commanded Netzah Yehuda at the time (from July 2020 to August 2022), would be reprimanded, and the platoon commander and company commander were removed from their positions.
Despite being reproached for the incident, Shevach was later promoted to deputy commander of the Kfir Brigade, which oversees Netzah Yehuda. After two years in this role, he was then transferred to a position allowing him to train forces at the military’s Urban Warfare Training Center.
In a previous similar case, Lt.-Col. Nitai Okashi, who oversaw the battalion from 2018 until 2020, received several promotions that 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 supported some of his soldiers in court in January of that year after they 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 the media outlet, “It should be noted that in relation to the events that took place in 2015 and 2019... those involved had been indicted and a military court had imposed prison sentences in both cases, along with additional punishments.”
SEPARATELY, a former unit member told CNN that Palestinians were subjected to excessive and violent treatment by Netzah Yehuda soldiers. The anonymous member also claimed that commanders encouraged vigilante violence against Palestinians.
The whistleblower feared that the promotion of commanders from Netzah Yehuda into other battalions and roles would encourage criminal behavior throughout the IDF.
“A lot of us probably did not see Arabs – Palestinians in particular – as people with rights. Like, they are really just the occupiers of some of our land, and so they need to be removed,” he said, explaining the mentality within the units.
He 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 military 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 army also assured CNN that it would investigate “every exceptional incident” and would hold violators accountable.
The other Israeli units accused of human rights violations
Indeed, the IDF accused the Yamam Unit of violations over the killing of Ahmad Jamil Fahd, who was shot by counterterrorism forces in 2021 near Ramallah; an interrogator from the Internal Security Forces for raping a teenager at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem in 2021; and the Israel Border Police for shooting a Bedouin, Sanad Salaam al-Harbad, in Rahat in March 2022.
Turning back to the Netzah Yehuda controversy, the former director of the State Department’s political-military affairs bureau, Josh Paul, told CNN that there was “not even the slightest basis” to believe that 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 that a charity had informed the US 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
While admitting that it could not verify the civilian death count provided by Hamas or Israel, CNN cited the successful hostage rescue mission, which saw four hostages released from captivity in June. Paul noted in response that, under the Leahy Laws, the US would indeed 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 provided 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.
Significantly, commanders, such as those promoted from the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, would also be subject to vetting under the Leahy Laws.