Netanyahu slams US move to impose sanction on Israel Defense Forces arm
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions in a few days on Netzah Yehuda for alleged violation of human rights in West Bank
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (April 21) criticised a proposed US move to impose sanctions on Netzah Yehuda, a unit of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for alleged violation of human rights in the West Bank.
The US move came after the House of Representatives, or the lower house of the US Congress, on Saturday (April 20) lent bipartisan support and passed a bill authorising the Joe Biden Administration to extend military assistance worth $95 billion to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went gung ho while thanking the US for the largesse. “The US Congress just overwhelmingly passed a much appreciated aid bill that demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization. Thank you friends, thank you America!,” Netanyahu wrote on X, responding to the gesture.
‘US move a moral low’
However, the Israeli Prime Minister came in for a shock a day later as the White House planned to impose sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda for its activities in the West Bank, in a departure from its policy of supporting its long-time ally in the Middle East.
The US move left Prime Minister Netanyahu fuming as he called the US intention to impose sanctions on the IDF unit a “moral low”. “Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces!” Netanyahu wrote on X, adding, “In recent weeks, I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials.”
Netanyahu went on to call the move “height of absurdity and a moral low”. “At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low," Netanyahu wrote on X. Written in Hebrew.
US sanctions first of its kind
According to the Jerusalem Post, referring to three US sources, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda, a battalion of the IDF, in days to come amid mounting pressure on Washington from within and outside the country.
This is the first time that the US is going to impose sanctions on a IDF unit consisting mainly of Haredi men and extremist youth for their alleged human rights violation in the West Bank, the report said.
US sanctions Israeli minister
The move follows sanctions by the Biden Administration Friday (April 19) on Israel's far-right wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two entities accused of raising funds for Israelis accused of settler violence, according to Reuters. Washington has blamed them for escalation of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Ben-Gvir is also a settler in the West Bank.
The latest developments show a growing gulf between the two allies as the US Administration has been cautioning Israel to exercise restraint in its war on Palestinians.