What is Israel's ultra-orthodox Netzah Yehuda unit likely to be sanctioned by US?

President Joe Biden’s administration is slated to announce sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The United States government is set to cite a series of reported human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank as the reason for the sanctions, Axios reported.

This would mark the first time the US has imposed sanctions on an IDF unit.

We explain what the Netzah Yehuda battalion is, and the human rights abuse allegations against it.

The Netzah Yehuda battalion

Netzah Yehuda unit was established by Israel in 1999. It was designed for Haredi Orthodox Jewish men, who have been exempt from the mandatory military conscription and service since the inception of Israel in 1947.

Netzah Yehuda, an infantry unit, accommodates religious and social practices of the ultra-orthodox Haredi men. As such, the batallion excludes women and non-Jews. The IDF ensures that their rations meet their high kosher standards. A civilian rabbi works with the soldiers. Moreover, they have a specific time allotted for Torah study.

This is a rather small unit, accounting for only 1 per cent of the active Israeli military.

Notorious for violence, racism

Netzah Yehuda has been mired in controversy due to persistent allegations of misconduct against Palestinian civilians. According to Jamal Khashoggi-founded non-profit organisation Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the battalion has been involved in numerous grave incidents, such as the unjustified shooting of unarmed civilians and physical and sexual assault, including torture.

In the period between 2015-2022, the unit’s soldiers have been implicated in the deaths of three civilians– Iyad Zakariya Hamed, Qassem Abbasi, and Palestinian-American Omar Assad– under dubious circumstances.

The Wall Street Journal, in 2022, reported that the Netzah Yehuda, which has only 500 soldiers, has accounted for almost 20 per cent of all IDF convictions related to offenses against Palestinians since 2010.

The battalion’s engagement primarily in the West Bank, where many of its soldiers are believed to support the settler movement, has also heightened tensions and accusations of racially motivated violence.

Eyewitness accounts of abuse

One of the most severe allegations occurred in January when 78-year-old Omar Assad, an American Palestinian, died after being detained by Netzah Yehuda soldiers.

According to the Israeli military’s investigation, Assad was zip-tied, gagged, blindfolded, and left lying on the cold ground for 30 minutes. When the soldiers cut Assad loose, he lay motionless on the ground. Instead of providing help, the soldiers just left. They later claimed that they thought he was asleep.

A report by Haaretz details another incident illustrating the battalion’s harsh treatment of Palestinians. In April 2021, a Palestinian family was stopped near the settlement of Ofra, and the driver was brutally beaten by Netzah Yehuda soldiers. A soldier from a different unit who witnessed the incident said, “They pulled him out of the car and beat him like crazy. At some point there on the road, the driver started to shake, and they saw that he was passing out.” Despite clear signs of distress, the Netzah Yehuda medic allegedly refused to help, calling the driver was a terrorist. This refusal even extended to denying the victim water.

These are only two of the many brutal incidents of racist violence against Palestinians attributed to the Netzah Yehuda.

The Leahy Laws and US sanctions

According to the report by Axios, the US is poised to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yedhuda under the Leahy Laws. This legislation prohibits the US from providing military aid and support to foreign military units involved in human rights abuses.

The sanctions will halt the transfer of US weapons to Netzah Yehuda, prevent its soldiers from training with US forces, and exclude them from US-funded activities.

The research prompting these sanctions reviewed incidents predating October 7, Axios cited an official as saying.

Israel’s reaction to the news

The reported of the plan has elicited a scathing response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “The IDF must not be sanctioned!”

Netanyahu further said that in the recent weeks, he has been working against the sanctioning of Israeli citizens, and has held talks with the American administration about this, too.

“At a time when our soldiers are fighting terrorist monsters, the intention to issue sanctions against a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low,” he wrote.