For the first time, the United States is expected to impose sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, initially set up to accommodate Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews but which quickly expanded to become a popular unit for radical right-wing settlers, has over the years been accused of a series of human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Sanctions on an IDF unit is a terrible stain on the Israeli Defence Forces. If you look at the groups [previously targeted by] US sanctions you will see that it is not going to be good company for the IDF to be part of,” Ahron Bregman, a political scientist and an expert on the Israel-Palestinian conflict at King’s College in London, said, adding “the Israelis will fight hard to try and prevent it”.
He noted however, that even though the Netzah Yehuda is an integral part of the IDF, it is “a unit every army should be ashamed of”.
“My fellow Israelis will hate me saying it but Netzah Yehuda is a sort of an Israeli-style Wagner Group,” he said.
In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 15 percent of the population and enjoy a special status. They do not pay certain taxes and are exempt from military service, a privilege that has been questioned by some politicians since the war against Hamas broke out. But following the October 7 attacks, thousands of young ultra-Orthodox men have come forward to volunteer in the armed forces, even if their families don’t always support them in this endeavour.
Lies, Violence and Far-right Ideology: The ultra-Orthodox IDF Unit the U.S. Is Set to Sanction
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion has a long history of bad behavior, driven by an ideology imbibed from the settler movement
The U.S. is reportedly planning to sanction the IDF’s Netzah Yehudah Battalion due to its involvement in human rights violations in the West Bank, asreported by Haaretz.
WHAT IS THE NETZAH YEHUDA BATTALION AND WHY IS IT SO CONTROVERSIAL?
Netzah Yehuda is a unit composed mostly of ultra-orthodox male soldiers and has been linked to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, including the killing of 78-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad in 2022. Netzah Yehuda was moved from the West Bank in 2022 and restationed in the Golan Heights. The State Department is also considering enforcing the Leahy Laws on other military and police units, Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reported.
KEY BACKGROUND
Last week, ProPublica reported that the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum, a special State department committee, recommended the department use the Leahy Laws to prevent multiple Israeli military units and police forces from receiving U.S. military aid. The Forum mostly reviewed incidents that took place before the outbreak of the war with Hamas in Gaza on Oct. 7, and according to the report, the results of the investigation were delivered to Blinken months ago. “They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then,” an anonymous official told ProPublica.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he made “determinations” about the possible sanctions on Friday. Insiders told the Associated Press that the State Department could issue sanctions as early as Monday.
Disagreeing with Israeli policies is not an anti-Israel position. It is perfectly fine to disagree with a country while still supporting it.
I have used a family metaphor before. You can tell your brother that he’s making a mistake while still loving him and accepting him as family. Actually, in a healthy relationship, it should be perfectly acceptable to point out errors that are being made. That is one hallmark of a healthy relationship - pointing out mistakes without condemning the entire relationship.
So I don’t see a problem pointing out mistakes or potential mistakes Israel might be making.
But the post is OT for METAR, so I don’t object to flagging it. However, not for your stated reason.
We need to have a single thread on governance in the Middle East and that area of Africa. There are five wars in the area.
No one really gives a blank on how many Muslims die. I find that pretty damning of the bigots. That certainly includes the Palestinian bigots.
Palestinians tricking young American children on college campuses to get their kicks is not fooling most of us. There is a desperate need in the region for reform towards democratic republics. Hamas and the PLO are worthless in any efforts to make peace or establish a place for the Palestinians.
I agree. I would further say that the current anti-Israeli policies on Gaza war at campus are not anti-Israel. The Netanyahu calls any protest against the Israeli Gaza war policies as anti-Israel. The current campus protests remind me of when I was attending UCLA and in the late 1960s when we had Vietnam war protests and Free Speech protests.
So are Netanyahu and his right wing nut cakes worthless. They are trying hard to eliminate all Palestinians by bombing, killing, starvation, pestilence, disease, and driving them out of Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem, and Israel. And you believe it is justified.
Perhaps. And it should be in a different group, maybe Political Asylum or whatever the equivalent is today. And that equivalent may not be at the fool anymore. But all the discussions end up being political discussion WHICH DOES NOT BELONG HERE AT ALL.
Aristotle rightly called humans “the political*** animal” as language creates us into a realm beyond the merely biologic, making “getting along” about more than milk and cookies, blood and iron, or tooth and claw, soaking us in political juices. As a result all conversations except utterly dry technical discussions have an inherent “political” dimension.
Our rule here at METAR, in order to create the space necessary for the technical topic of macroeconomic investment analysis, is constant abstention from over engagement, and especially abstention from provocative engagement, with the nevertheless ever-present dimension of politics. That abstention, that inhibition, is (quelle surprise!) called politeness
[(Def: Behavior that is respectful and considerate of other people)] see
That inhibitory politeness used to exist in most public spheres of life so that life can function. [E.g. see (the USA version is quite similar, but the Canadian’s have it on a website)]
I see it as a sign of breakdown, of too rapid change in the “tenor” of our times, that politeness is dissolving, preserved only with conscious effort.
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P.S. (being innately political, I have had to make great effort to be polite all my life…at age of four I started to learn inhibition when at a Sunday Dinner my Gran (Dad was presiding but Gran was the Sergeant at Arms) stabbed my hand with a fork as an “extreme reprimand”)
P.P.S. (within the ancient and powerful regulations of the naval dinner the President of the Mess has great powers, and deems what exceptions are allowable given exigent circumstances. Wendy is our President of the Mess)(what a mess, LOL!)
***politics from the Greek polis, a city as constitued by its citizens,
possibly from ancient indo-european peles: a safe place of refuge
The best thing Aristotle taught on politics was legitimate versus illegitimate forms of government. The macro impact is huge.
It is not the nuts and bolts but the brush stroke of a legitimate governance that we all need. The economic results follow.
A couple of years ago some were amazed by what Xi could accomplish and what we could not. Oh such serious and amazing fools. Small men have absolute power. We simply need bigger men and women.