Netanyahu vows to fight sanctions
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday he would fight against sanctions being imposed on any Israeli military units for alleged rights violations, after media reports said Washington was planning such a step.
Axios news site on Sunday reported Washington was planning to impose sanctions on Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has operated in the occupied West Bank, though the Israeli military said it was not aware of any such measures.
On Saturday, the United States announced a series of sanctions linked to Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
‘‘If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] . . . I will fight it with all my strength,’’ Netanyahu said in a statement.
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, a centrist former armed forces chief, said in a statement yesterday he spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and asked him to reconsider the matter.
The State Department said Blinken spoke with Gantz and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant about Israel’s security, efforts to ensure the conflict in Gaza does not spread and the need for an immediate ceasefire and increased flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
The US statements did not mention sanctions.
Gantz said any such sanctions would be a mistake because they would harm Israel’s legitimacy during a time of war and they were unjustified because Israel had an independent justice system and a military that kept international law.
Blinken on Saturday said he had made ‘‘determinations’’ regarding accusations that Israel violated a set of US laws that prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights.
Earlier last week, the Pro Publica investigative news organisation reported a special State Department panel known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum had recommended months ago to Blinken that multiple Israeli military and police units be disqualified from receiving US aid, after allegations of human rights violations.
The incidents that were the subject of allegations took place in the West Bank and mostly occurred before Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza began.
The Israeli military said the Netzah Yehuda battalion was an active combat unit that operated according to the principles of international law.
The head of Israeli military intelligence, who last year accepted responsibility for the failures that allowed the Hamasled attack on Israel on October 7, has resigned, the military said in a statement yesterday.
Majorgeneral Aharon Haliva was one of a number of senior Israeli commanders who said they had failed to foresee and prevent the most devastating attack in Israel’s history, and is the first senior figure to step down over it.
‘‘The intelligence division under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I have carried that black day with me ever since,’’ he said in a resignation letter released by the military.