Instead of Sanctioning a Rogue Battalion, the U.S. Should Focus on Netanyahu and His Ministers
Alon Pinkas
Haaretz
Apr 22, 2024
That the United States is considering applying the "Leahy Law" to an Israeli military unit, the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, is a big deal. It's a big deal not because the move is unprecedented but because of the unambiguous political message it sends.
While the impact of the sanctions the law stipulates may be very limited, the United States is essentially acknowledging a very inconvenient truth: A combat unit in the Israeli army is acting like a militia.
That means that some of its operations in the West Bank are rogue, outside the boundaries of the law. That means the unit either doesn't carry out orders, disobeys the chain of command, or has a parallel chain of political command made of rabbis – whether ultra-Orthodox or religious-Zionist – in Israeli settlements. Any other interpretation is putting lipstick on a pig.
Second, the United States is drawing a clear contrast between Israel and the West Bank. This shouldn't be taken lightly or dismissed as an ad hoc technicality. It's noteworthy that the U.S. announcement, expected to be made official in the next few days, coincided, however unscripted, with the House of Representatives authorizing the Biden administration's request to provide Israel with $14.5 billion to $16.5 billion in weapons systems and munitions ($26 billion for the entire package over time).
This comes on top of the annual military grant of $3.8 billion and the more than $300 million worth of munitions transferred to Israel since the beginning of the war in October.
This is particularly pertinent given the predictable but nonetheless comical and boisterous reactions from Israeli politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a global beacon of morality himself, a man who still refuses to take responsibility for the October 7 debacle, declared sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion to be "the height of absurdity and a moral low."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who hasn't yet commented on S&P's lowering of its long-term credit rating for Israel last week – amid a worsening outlook for economic growth and the budget deficit – found time for some sanctimonious wailing. He announced that the U.S. decision was "absolute madness while Israel is fighting for its survival." Yes, survival. "We warned," he reminded the world without specifying who "we" are, that "the Biden administration's sanctions will be extended to the entire IDF and the State of Israel."
According to Smotrich, Israel is now in the hospitable company of Vladimir Putin, Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong Un, other innocent victims of America's indescribable cruelty. As for the $14.5 billion, Smotrich is less impressed, and he naturally assumes that it's God's gift to Israel, not the American taxpayer.
Another rocket scientist who works for Netanyahu, Tally Gotliv, a hybrid of Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert but without their natural charm, bested Smotrich with her usual style and grace. Please take a moment to read this one carefully: "Who are you, the United States of America, to dare impose sanctions on the ultra-Orthodox battalion Netzah Yehuda? This is contemporary antisemitism!"
Gotliv then offered a painful lament: "I am sick and tired of U.S. control over Israel and these clear threats against us. … The U.S. is treading on Israel in a sophisticated way, a pat and then a slap on the cheek again and again." The gut-wrenching dramatic line was saved for last: "I refuse to be a battered country!" said the woman who made a career as a lawyer defending accused rapists.
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter kept it laconic and sharp: "Step down," he instructed the United States. War cabinet member Benny Gantz, who was the defense minister when the Americans began investigating the matter, surely thought he was reassuring the nation by saying that "I'll talk to Tony [Blinken] and convince him."
That's great. "I'll talk to Tony" is a line from the "Sopranos," not a foreign policy.
The 1997 Leahy Law is named after its main author, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who served in the Senate for nearly four decades until last year. It refers to two statutory provisions prohibiting the U.S. government from "using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights." One provision applies to the State Department and the second to the Defense Department.
The investigative and vetting process is conducted over months or years by the relevant departments and agencies at the U.S. Embassy in the country in question.
The law was originally designed to battle the drug trade and applied to military, paramilitary and police units in Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico as well as in Turkey, a NATO member. The law was later expanded and integrated into the Foreign Assistance Act in 2008.
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, or the 97th Battalion of the Kfir infantry brigade, has been under U.S. vetting for half a decade and more closely since 2022. This raises the main question: Even if the allegations prove to be accurate and the sanctions are justified, isn't this a convenient cop-out?
Three ranks above the battalion there is a major general, the head of Central Command. Above him there is the IDF chief of staff, a lieutenant general. Above him there is a civilian official, the defense minister, and above him the prime minister.
If the Leahy Law is about human rights violations, then the entire political echelon needs to be held accountable going back decades or at least to the point when the investigation began. If this is all about the last several years, particularly the term of Netanyahu's extremist messianic-religious right-wing government, then say so unequivocally. If these violations can be proved as a recurring pattern that hasn't been addressed by Israel's judicial system, say so. If Israel's defense is "our judicial system," the very same one Netanyahu set out to destroy last year, and you don't trust it, say so.
Sanctioning a battalion, with little practical implications, isn't a policy. It's an application of U.S. law. But it's also a harsh warning, because what the United States does the EU quickly emulates. When Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remarked that "a hit on a battalion is a hit on the entire Israeli defense establishment," he may not have realized that it's exactly that.
Haaretz
Apr 22, 2024
That the United States is considering applying the "Leahy Law" to an Israeli military unit, the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, is a big deal. It's a big deal not because the move is unprecedented but because of the unambiguous political message it sends.
While the impact of the sanctions the law stipulates may be very limited, the United States is essentially acknowledging a very inconvenient truth: A combat unit in the Israeli army is acting like a militia.
That means that some of its operations in the West Bank are rogue, outside the boundaries of the law. That means the unit either doesn't carry out orders, disobeys the chain of command, or has a parallel chain of political command made of rabbis – whether ultra-Orthodox or religious-Zionist – in Israeli settlements. Any other interpretation is putting lipstick on a pig.
Second, the United States is drawing a clear contrast between Israel and the West Bank. This shouldn't be taken lightly or dismissed as an ad hoc technicality. It's noteworthy that the U.S. announcement, expected to be made official in the next few days, coincided, however unscripted, with the House of Representatives authorizing the Biden administration's request to provide Israel with $14.5 billion to $16.5 billion in weapons systems and munitions ($26 billion for the entire package over time).
This comes on top of the annual military grant of $3.8 billion and the more than $300 million worth of munitions transferred to Israel since the beginning of the war in October.
This is particularly pertinent given the predictable but nonetheless comical and boisterous reactions from Israeli politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a global beacon of morality himself, a man who still refuses to take responsibility for the October 7 debacle, declared sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion to be "the height of absurdity and a moral low."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who hasn't yet commented on S&P's lowering of its long-term credit rating for Israel last week – amid a worsening outlook for economic growth and the budget deficit – found time for some sanctimonious wailing. He announced that the U.S. decision was "absolute madness while Israel is fighting for its survival." Yes, survival. "We warned," he reminded the world without specifying who "we" are, that "the Biden administration's sanctions will be extended to the entire IDF and the State of Israel."
According to Smotrich, Israel is now in the hospitable company of Vladimir Putin, Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong Un, other innocent victims of America's indescribable cruelty. As for the $14.5 billion, Smotrich is less impressed, and he naturally assumes that it's God's gift to Israel, not the American taxpayer.
Another rocket scientist who works for Netanyahu, Tally Gotliv, a hybrid of Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert but without their natural charm, bested Smotrich with her usual style and grace. Please take a moment to read this one carefully: "Who are you, the United States of America, to dare impose sanctions on the ultra-Orthodox battalion Netzah Yehuda? This is contemporary antisemitism!"
Gotliv then offered a painful lament: "I am sick and tired of U.S. control over Israel and these clear threats against us. … The U.S. is treading on Israel in a sophisticated way, a pat and then a slap on the cheek again and again." The gut-wrenching dramatic line was saved for last: "I refuse to be a battered country!" said the woman who made a career as a lawyer defending accused rapists.
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter kept it laconic and sharp: "Step down," he instructed the United States. War cabinet member Benny Gantz, who was the defense minister when the Americans began investigating the matter, surely thought he was reassuring the nation by saying that "I'll talk to Tony [Blinken] and convince him."
That's great. "I'll talk to Tony" is a line from the "Sopranos," not a foreign policy.
The 1997 Leahy Law is named after its main author, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who served in the Senate for nearly four decades until last year. It refers to two statutory provisions prohibiting the U.S. government from "using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights." One provision applies to the State Department and the second to the Defense Department.
The investigative and vetting process is conducted over months or years by the relevant departments and agencies at the U.S. Embassy in the country in question.
The law was originally designed to battle the drug trade and applied to military, paramilitary and police units in Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico as well as in Turkey, a NATO member. The law was later expanded and integrated into the Foreign Assistance Act in 2008.
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, or the 97th Battalion of the Kfir infantry brigade, has been under U.S. vetting for half a decade and more closely since 2022. This raises the main question: Even if the allegations prove to be accurate and the sanctions are justified, isn't this a convenient cop-out?
Three ranks above the battalion there is a major general, the head of Central Command. Above him there is the IDF chief of staff, a lieutenant general. Above him there is a civilian official, the defense minister, and above him the prime minister.
If the Leahy Law is about human rights violations, then the entire political echelon needs to be held accountable going back decades or at least to the point when the investigation began. If this is all about the last several years, particularly the term of Netanyahu's extremist messianic-religious right-wing government, then say so unequivocally. If these violations can be proved as a recurring pattern that hasn't been addressed by Israel's judicial system, say so. If Israel's defense is "our judicial system," the very same one Netanyahu set out to destroy last year, and you don't trust it, say so.
Sanctioning a battalion, with little practical implications, isn't a policy. It's an application of U.S. law. But it's also a harsh warning, because what the United States does the EU quickly emulates. When Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remarked that "a hit on a battalion is a hit on the entire Israeli defense establishment," he may not have realized that it's exactly that.
