US claims Israeli military units violated human rights

The US State Department has identified five Israeli military units as being responsible for serious human rights violations in specific incidents but stated that these units will still receive US military support.

Notably, all the incidents occurred outside of Gaza before the current war. Israel took corrective measures in four units, giving additional information on the fifth, according to the department.

This implies that all the units are still eligible for US military assistance. US is Israel's main military backer, supplying it with $3.8bn (£3bn) worth of weapons and defence systems per year.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said that five security forces units committed gross violations of human rights.

"Four of the Israeli units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do," he said and added, “For a remaining unit, we are in consultations and engagements with the government of Israel; they have submitted additional information as it pertains to that unit."

The department disproves allegations that it caved to political pressure by continuing to provide military assistance to the unit, despite not being able to confirm whether any accountability measures had been taken in the case.

"We are engaging with them in a process, and we will make an ultimate decision when it comes to that unit when that process is complete," said Patel.

All the incidents are believed to have taken place in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in recent years.
It is worth mentioning that under America's ‘Leahy Law’, sponsored in 1997 by then-Senator Patrick Leahy, a finding that a foreign military unit has committed serious human rights violations can result in the suspension of its eligibility for US military assistance.

The US government says it considers torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and rape as such types of violations when implementing the Leahy law.

Even when there is such a finding, there is an exception to cutting military assistance if the state department is satisfied the cases have been dealt with and justice pursued by the government involved.

It says Israel did do this - so-called remediation - in four of the five units. However, the department declined to give any details of the incidents.

The United States was reportedly about to announce that it would halt military aid to a fifth Israeli military unit, but it has since stated that new information from Israel will delay a final decision.

The unit in question is widely believed to be the Netzah Yehuda battalion, a special unit established in 1999 for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to serve.

Israel investigated this battalion in connection with the death of Omar Assad, an 80-year-old Palestinian-American who died after being bound and gagged by soldiers during a search in a West Bank village in 2022.

At the time, the US called for a thorough criminal investigation and full accountability.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later said they regretted Mr Assad's death, and a commander would be "reprimanded" and two soldiers barred from senior positions for two years - but would not be prosecuted.

When asked about reports an IDF unit could be the first ever to face the US government designation under the Leahy Law, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on 19 April, "I made determinations. You can expect to see them in the days ahead."

(With inputs from agencies)