Monday, May 6

Will Fight Against US Plans To Impose Sanction On Israeli Military Unit: Benjamin Netanyahu

Edited by Fathimathu Shana
"Will Fight" Against US Plans To Impose Sanction On Israeli Military Unit: Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reject any sanctions on Tel Aviv, as reports of US planning to cut aid to one unit emerged. Netanyahu said, “I will fight it with all my strength”. As reported by US media, America is planning to impose sanction on a unit of Israeli military for the alleged human rights violation.

The US-based news site Axios on Saturday said that Washington was planning to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda battalion of Israel, which has operated in West Bank, though Israelis said it was not aware of any such measures. Netzah Yehuda is an infantry battalion which was founded roughly a quarter if century ago to incorporate ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military, said Al Jazeera.

The move is alleged to be over the IDF’s abuse on the Palestinians of West Bank including an incident of which a Palestinian-American, an 80-year-old Omar Assad died after he was bound and gagged by Israeli military in 2022.

However, US preaching about being “outraged” at Israeli atrocities on the Palestinians is not new. The report of “planning” to impose sanctions on Israeli ultra-Orthodox battalion also does not invoke surprise. It is to note that, during his call with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz, US Secretary General Antony Blinken did not mention anything about the sanction. In a readout released by Blinken, he said he had discussed “measures to support Israel’s security, a ceasefire that would allow the release of hostages, measures to increase life-saving aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and the need to prevent the spread of the conflict”.

Israeli media, Times of Israel said Blinken failed to mention the actual reason of the call, which the reports of Washington planning to impose sanctions on the military unit. The news outlet said, “while the Israeli readouts made clear that Gantz and Gallant had reached out to Blinken in order to talk him down from sanctioning any [Israeli army] units, the State Department readouts avoid the topic entirely”. When asked about the said sanctions, Blinken told BBC that, “I’ve made determinations; you can expect to see them in the days ahead”.

It is pertinent to note that, US is maintaining the double talk here. It has never suspended aid to Israel before, and it appears like it is not planning to stop any time soon. While reports of imposing sanction on the Israeli military unit is lurking, Washington is getting ready to approve another $26.38 billion to Israel including $5.2 billion for Israel’s missiles and rockets defence system. The Netzah Yehuda unit does not have any restrictions on using the weaponries which are mainly US funded.

Most of the “human rights violation” committed by the Netzah Yehuda” was recorded before the October 7th Hamas attack on Tel Aviv. IDF said the unit is working in accordance with the international law. It said, “following publications about sanctions against the battalion, the IDF is not aware of the issue…The IDF works and will continue to work to investigate any unusual event in a practical manner and according to law”, as quoted by Reuters.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to fight against US if it imposed sanctions on his military unit, earlier thanked America for its “much appreciated aid bill”.

Experts say that the new talks of US imposing sanction on the Israeli military unit is nothing more than mere words as usual.