VT Foreign Policy By MAX BLUMENTHAL AND CHRISTOPHER WEAVER
In recordings obtained by The Grayzone, a self-proclaimed soldier from Israel’s infamous Netzah Yehuda battalion detailed his unit’s killing of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American and flaunted his genocidal views. After announcing plans to sanction the battalion, the Biden administration has inexplicably pulled back.
The Biden administration has balked after announcing plans to sanction five units of the Israeli military accused of wanton human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank. “Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do,” the US State Department has claimed, referencing unknown efforts by Israel to hold its soldiers accountable.
The fifth, un-remediated unit appears to be Netzah Yehuda, an all-male unit of Orthodox Jewish nationalists which operates almost exclusively in the Ramallah district of the West Bank. This battalion stands accused of widespread crimes including sexual assault and beating at least three older men to death while they were lying on the ground in custody.
In its most brazen instance of abuse, Netzah Yehuda soldiers detained an 78-year-old American citizen named Omar Asad in January 2022 near his home in Ramallah, then left him outdoors in harsh conditions, bound and blindfolded, until he died. Israeli authorities refused to charge the soldiers for Asad’s killing, opting instead for a disciplinary slap on the wrist while paying compensation to Asad’s family.
A report by the Washington DC-based human rights organization, DAWN, found that the commander of the unit at the time of Asad’s killing, Lt. Col. Mati Shevach, was later promoted to Deputy Commander of the Kfir Brigade, which oversees the Netzah Yehuda formation.
Despite Netzah Yehuda’s documented record of abuses, the Biden administration has seemingly halted its plans to sanction the battalion in the face of furious protests by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During an April 29 State Department press briefing, reporters pressed spokesman Vedant Patel to explain why the administration had hesitated.
“This is an ongoing process,” Patel insisted. “I’m not going to speak to it more specifically, but consistent with the memorandum of understanding that we have with the government of Israel, we are engaging with them, consulting with them as it relates to not just this broader process but additional information that they’ve shared.”
While the State Department claims to be “still deciding” whether to sanction Netzah Yehuda, The Grayzone has obtained testimony by an apparent veteran of the unit gleefully boasting about the killing of Asad. According to the self-described soldier’s account, the unit sadistically brutalized the elderly Palestinian American as punishment for supposedly interfering with a raid it was conducting at the time.
“This geezer who’s like trying to interfere with our operation, we’re going to like, fuck with him for a night,” the soldier said…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE…. (vtforeignpolicy.com)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
