From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Labor chief calls for dismantling of IDF unit with history of abuses said to be targeted for US sanctions
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Labor chair Merav Michaeli calls for the government to dismantle the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion following a report that the United States is preparing to sanction the combat unit with a history of abuses against Palestinians.
The sanctions are “an acknowledgment of the reality and an understanding that Israel’s conduct in the territories cannot continue,” she states, explaining that “the violent and corrupt conduct of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion and those around it has been known for years, and nothing has been done to stop it.”
“Two years ago, the US established a team to investigate the battalion. The political and military echelons cannot pretend they did not know about it,” she adds, arguing that “instead of wising up and dealing with the situation, we get yet another dose of denial and foot-dragging, lies and covering up the bitter reality” — directly leading to the sanctions.
“Netzah Yehuda is an IDF battalion that should have been disbanded many years ago. Most of the ultra-Orthodox who serve in the IDF do not serve in it today. This is a regiment of ‘hilltop youth’ and those who see just religion as an excuse to attack Arabs,” Michaeli continues.
The sanctions are reportedly a response to alleged human rights abuses committed against Palestinians in the West Bank by the unit’s members.
Responding to War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz’s statement that the unit is “an inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces,” Michaeli counters that “automatically defending” it “casts a heavy shadow over the entire IDF.”
