From the Liveblog of
Monday, April 22, 2024
Gallant to IDF unit slated for US sanctions: ‘No one will teach us what morality is’
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Amid plans by the United States to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the unit’s troops on the Gaza border earlier today.
“The entire defense establishment, the IDF and the State of Israel support you, appreciate you and strengthen you in your operations to protect the State of Israel,” Gallant told the Netzah Yehuda troops, according to his office.
The unit, made up of ultra-Orthodox troops and part of the Kfir Brigade, has been operating in the Beit Hanoun area amid the war, after months on the Syrian border. It had previously been stationed in the West Bank, where it was at the center of several controversies connected to right-wing extremism and violence against Palestinians.
“Errors and mistakes happen wherever there is military activity and they must not happen… but the fact that one, or two, or [multiple] soldiers did something wrong, this should not vilify the [entire] battalion,” Gallant says. He says that in such cases, the soldiers are “taken care of.”
“No one in the world will teach us what morality is and what norms are,” Gallant adds.
The Times of Israel Community.