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The United States is considering imposing sanctions on one or more Israeli battalions accused of human rights violations during operations in the occupied West Bank, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.<\/p>\n
Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday called the possibility of the Biden administration\u2019s placing such sanctions \u201cthe peak of absurdity and a moral low\u201d at a time when Israeli forces are fighting a war in Gaza against Hamas. Mr. Netanyahu said in a social media post<\/a> that his government would \u201cact by all means\u201d against any such move.<\/p>\n The news about the possible sanctions, reported earlier by Axios<\/a>, came only a day after the House approved $26 billion<\/a> for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza. The sanctions, if imposed, would not hold up the military aid that was just approved in Congress.<\/p>\n The possible imposition of sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda and other battalions would come under the so-called 1997 Leahy Law<\/a>, which bans foreign military units accused of human rights violations from receiving U.S. aid or training.<\/p>\n It was not clear what practical impact any sanctions might have, given that funding of specific Israeli units is hard to track and the battalions in question do not receive American training. But such a punitive move would clearly sting, especially coming from Israel\u2019s closest ally.<\/p>\n Netzah Yehuda, which has been accused of violence against Palestinians<\/a> in the West Bank in the past, was established for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men whose strict religious observance demands that men and women be separated. The battalion has attracted other Orthodox soldiers as well, including hard-line nationalists from the West Bank settler movement.<\/p>\n One of the most egregious episodes attributed to the Netzah Yehuda battalion involved the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man<\/a> who was detained, gagged and handcuffed by members of the unit in a night raid on his village in January 2022.<\/p>\n An autopsy<\/a> showed that the man, Omar Abdelmajed Assad, had died from a stress-induced heart attack brought on by injuries he sustained while he was detained. An investigation by the Israeli military\u2019s justice system found failures in the conduct of the soldiers involved, who, the military said, \u201cacted in a manner that did not correspond with what is required and expected of\u201d Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n The Israeli military disciplined three of the unit\u2019s commanders<\/a> after the investigation. But no criminal charges were brought against the soldiers because, the military said at the time, no causal link was found between Mr. Assad\u2019s death and the failures of the soldiers\u2019 conduct.<\/p>\n The Biden administration has been putting Israel on notice over rising levels of settler violence against Palestinians and anti-settlement activists in the occupied West Bank, imposing financial and travel sanctions<\/a> on several people<\/a> and, most recently, on two grass-roots organizations raising funds for some of those individuals.<\/p>\n Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s war cabinet and a former military chief, said imposing sanctions on Israeli military units would set \u201ca dangerous precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n The fierce denunciations came just hours after Israeli officials welcomed<\/a> the bipartisan vote<\/a> in Congress to approve billions of dollars in aid for Israel, underscoring the dramatic swings and contradictions that have characterized recent relations between President Biden and Mr. Netanyahu.<\/p>\n