Netanyahu promises to fight sanctions on Israeli military unit ‘with all my power’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said those who believe “they can impose sanctions on a unit” in the Israeli military should think again.
In an address shared on social media to mark the Jewish Passover Seder festival, Netanyahu said he will fight any attempt to sanction Israeli forces for human rights violations “with all my power”. “As our soldiers are united in defending us on the battlefield, we are united in defending them in the diplomatic arena,” he said.
Netanyahu made his comments as reports emerged that the US is considering sanctions against a unit of the Israeli military over human rights violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that “processes” were under way to look into allegations of rights abuses by the Israeli military.
Reports indicate that the Netzah Yehuda, or “Judea Forever”, unit for ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers, which is stationed in the occupied West Bank, could be the target of sanctions.
Family not expecting justice for US victim manhandled by Netzah Yehuda unit
Omar Assad’s 81-year-old widow isn’t pinning hope on any action the United States might take against the battalion who manhandled her husband, leading to his death two years ago in the occupied West Bank.
Assad, a dual Palestinian-US citizen, died from a heart attack after being detained by members of the Israeli army’s Netzah Yehuda unit. His widow, Nazmiya Assad, told Reuters he had been coming home from a game of cards when the soldiers held him.
He was 78 at the time of his death, and still had a plastic zip-tie around one wrist when he was found dead in the early morning at a construction site in his village of Jiljilya, some 20 km (12 miles) north of Ramallah.
An autopsy found he died from a stress-induced heart attack brought on by being manhandled.
His death drew attention in the United States, which in 2022 called for a criminal investigation and is now reported by Israeli media to be planning sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda unit over its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank – an unprecedented step by Israel’s closest ally.
The Israeli military has said soldiers temporarily gagged Assad – who had a history of heart problems – with a strip of cloth and cuffed his hands with a zip tie because of his refusal to cooperate. The soldiers left him supine and unresponsive, saying they assumed he had fallen asleep.
Netzah Yehuda’s battalion commander was reprimanded and two officers were dismissed, but Israeli military prosecutors decided against pursuing criminal charges because they said there was no link between the errors made by soldiers and Assad’s death.
