Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that the State Department is investigating allegations of Israeli human rights abuses and the role of American weapons in potential violations with the same standard as for any other country.
Blinken spoke during the release of the State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and addressed the upcoming announcement of restrictions on military assistance for specific units of the Israeli military over credible reports of human rights abuses.
Blinken said in response to a question from Reuters that there is no double standard.
He mentioned that an announcement regarding State Department findings on whether to restrict assistance to the Netzah Yehuda military unit over alleged human rights abuses is expected in the coming days.
The unit, mainly consisting of ultra-Orthodox Israelis and operating primarily in the West Bank, reportedly has the highest conviction rate for abuses against Palestinian civilians.
Under the Leahy Law, U.S. restrictions on military assistance due to human rights abuses are necessary. The law requires the U.S. to cut off assistance to any foreign military or law enforcement units if credible evidence of human rights violations is found.
Blinken explained on Monday in response to Reuters questioning at the State Department that the Leahy Law report undergoes a careful and deliberate process to gather facts and information.
He hinted that more information will be shared soon regarding the potential sanctions.
The potential announcement of U.S. sanctions has faced opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the Israeli opposition, Benny Gantz, who spoke with Blinken on Sunday.
Tom Sagiv, spokesperson for Gantz, stated that “Minister Gantz expressed to the secretary that the prospective decision to impose sanctions on the ‘Netzah Yehuda’ battalion is a mistake.”
Gantz argued that sanctioning the Israeli military unit would damage Israel’s international legitimacy during a time of war and has “no justification as the Israeli judicial system is strong and independent.”
Blinken mentioned in his statement that Israel “has shown the ability to introspect,” conduct investigations into wrongdoing and administer punishment.
He commented, “It’s my understanding, they have many ongoing investigations based on reports that have surfaced with allegations about human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law, laws of war, etc.”
He added, “I believe Israel is in the process of doing that based on knowledge of ongoing investigations that they have. And as I said, when incidents are brought to our attention, we look at them and especially if there’s a possibility that U.S. arms were used in those instances.”
The decision to punish Netzah Yehuda would be a big step for the Biden government, which quickly provided weapons to Israel for its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but criticized Israel’s military for causing a high number of Palestinian civilian deaths, estimated to be over 20,000.
In the West Bank, where violence has intensified between Israelis and Palestinians, the administration made an extraordinary move in March to impose sanctions on individual Israelis for committing violence against Palestinians.
In the State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the government condemns Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct 7, which resulted in over 1,100 deaths, more than 5,400 injuries, and 253 hostages being taken. Approximately 133 Israelis are still being held as hostages by Hamas, and those who have been released reported being tortured and sexually abused. It’s unclear how many of the remaining hostages are alive.
However, the 2023 report also criticized Israel’s actions in the war. It mentioned that “Israel responded with a sustained, wide-scale military operation in Gaza, which had caused the death of over 21,000 Palestinians and injuries to more than 56,000 by the end of the year, led to the displacement of the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, and resulted in a serious humanitarian crisis.”
The report states that significant human rights issues include credible reports of “serious abuses in a conflict by Hamas and Israel.”
