#year of netzah

[alchemylight]

✨2023 Channeling with Alexis Cartwright (of Transference Healing®)✨

Watch it live on:24th February 2023 (Friday)8pm Sydney time5pm Singapore Time9am London Time4am New York Time1am Seattle TimePlayback is chaptered for easier navigation.★ Donations to my channel @ Paypal Address: donny6868@gmail.com★ E-business card: https://linktr.ee/alchemylightTHANK YOU!! ♥️ To book a consultation with me, you may contact via the following ways:E-mail:…

[girlactionfigure]

💔 HEARTBREAKING: Young Israeli soldier who was critically hurt during clashes with Hamas in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, on May 22nd has died:

20-year-old Staff Sgt. Betzalel Zvi Kovach of the Kfir Brigade's Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Jerusalem.

May his memory be a blessing.

[originalleftist]

The US is preparing to sanction an Israeli military unit, the Netzah Yahuda battalion, accused of committing war crimes.

The sanctions would apparently be under the Leahy Law, which as per the article "prevents US funding or training being used for foreign military units credibly implicated in gross human rights violations." Notably, the alleged violations, including the death of an 80 year old Palestinian-American, Omar Assad, are from before the current war.

The US also just sanctioned an "Israeli far-right activist" who they say "had "engaged in destabilizing violence affecting the West Bank."'

"Washington - Israel's main ally - has never suspended aid to an IDF unit before."

The government of Israel is, of course, protesting, and trying to get the Biden administration to reverse course. So we'll see how this unfolds in the coming days. I will say, though, that I both believe there must be accountability for how US arms and other aid are used, that the US must adhere to it's own laws, and that I generally prefer carefully targeted sanctions like these to sweeping economic sanctions against an entire country (such as those advocated by the BDS Movement against Israel), as such broad sanctions tend to hurt innocent people as much as or more than the guilty ones.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

The State Department said Friday it has opted against what would have been its first-ever blocking of aid to an Israeli military unit over rights abuses, saying it is now satisfied with Israeli efforts to remediate the abuse. While the U.S. has not publicly identified the Israeli unit, it is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda, which has historically been based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians in the Palestinian territory, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalion’s forces in 2022. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had determined in a finding made public in April that an Israeli army battalion committed grave human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, triggering a U.S. rights law on aid to foreign security forces known as the Leahy law.

[tieflingkisser]

This AIPAC Donor Funnels Millions to an IDF Unit Accused of Violating Human Rights

The battalion has a dedicated U.S. nonprofit to support its operations — whose president is supporting AIPAC’s political agenda.

The Netzah Yehuda battalion is an all-male unit of the Israel Defense Forces that was formed to allow ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military while still complying with their religious beliefs, through accommodations like providing time for prayer and limiting interactions with women.  The battalion is also notorious for its alleged abuses of Palestinians and human rights violations in the West Bank, including an incident that led to the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man in 2022. These allegations landed the group, formally known as the Nahal Haredi, on a short list of IDF units that Secretary of State Antony Blinken intended to sanction last month. That move would have cut off the battalion’s supply of U.S. weapons and other military aid — until the Biden administration backed away from those plans under pressure from Israeli officials. But the battalion has another reliable source of international support: a charitable nonprofit in the U.S. The man leading that organization, which has funneled millions to the IDF group in recent years, is also a donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, which is running a multimillion-dollar campaign to oust critics of Israel’s human rights abuses from Congress and install stalwart pro-Israel allies in their place. “It’s absolutely incomprehensible that we provide tax write-offs to American citizens who use their funds to support groups and activities that are clear violators of human rights and violators of what is essentially American policy,” said Jim Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute. “And now, some of the very groups that we are holding up as sanctionable for their human rights behavior similarly are getting tax write-offs. It’s simply something that ought to end.”

[...]

Friends of Nahal Haredi, the U.S. nonprofit that supports the battalion, is led by a man named Stephen Rosedale, the founder and chairman of a company that operates more than 100 long-term care, medical rehab, and other healthcare facilities across seven states. Rosedale, a registered Republican, has given a total of $33,500 to AIPAC and its affiliated political action committees this cycle, including $25,000 to AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, and $10,500 to AIPAC’s regular PAC. Rosedale is also backing the challengers picked by AIPAC to oust Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Cori Bush, D-Mo., in its plan to unseat the Squad. Rosedale has also given at least half a million dollars to various U.S. political campaigns since 2009.  Rosedale, Friends of Nahal Haredi, and the United Democracy Project did not respond to requests for comment. “We know that AIPAC’s primary role is to prevent any accountability for the Israeli government and military,” said Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow, a Jewish advocacy group. “So it’s not surprising that their donors are also backing IDF battalions with scores of documented human rights violations.”  Netzah Yehuda’s alleged human rights violations include leaving a 78-year-old Palestinian American man detained during a raid in the West Bank outside overnight before he died of cardiac arrest. The man, Omar As’ad, was a U.S. citizen and had previously lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Israeli officials dismissed two battalion officers after As’ad died but said it was not possible to determine whether their conduct caused his death. The State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the circumstances of As’ad’s death and called for a thorough criminal investigation. No one was ultimately prosecuted for As’ad’s death. “The question here is really for the Democratic Party,” Borgwardt said. “Are they going to side with the majority of Americans who want a ceasefire and conditions on weapons to Israel? Or are they going to side with AIPAC and its unconditional backing of Netanyahu’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza?” AIPAC’s efforts to silence critics of Israel in Congress should make the group as repulsive to Democrats as the National Rifle Association, Borgwardt said. “Why are we not treating AIPAC like the NRA when we know it’s funded by people who also support weapons sales with zero accountability for civilian deaths including those of thousands of children?” 

[bloghrexach]

💥 … On April 30, 2024: more on Israel!! — for real? If this has been found, what’s the next step? — I’m waiting …

By: LaillaB, founder of Reclaim the Narrative’, from LinkedIn …

“The US has found five units of the Israeli security forces responsible for gross violations of human rights, over incidents in the West Bank before the plausible genocide in Gaza, the state department has said.

The findings come at a time when Israel is facing potential accountability from the international criminal court and the state department for its conduct of the conflict in Gaza, in which more than 34,000 people have been massacred.

The units found to be involved in abuses in the West Bank are mostly from the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) but include at least one police unit. They have not been sanctioned, however, the state department said.

The fifth, an ultra-orthodox military unit known as Netzah Yehuda, drawn in part from West Bank settlers, was about to be blacklisted earlier this month under the Leahy laws, which ban US funding of any foreign military units involved in atrocities.e

The unit had carried out no apparent remedial action despite having been alerted to the abuses and Israeli government lawyers had ignored communications about the issue for months, according to US officials.

Shortly before the sanctions were due to be announced, however, Israeli government lawyers urgently contacted Washington and insisted that under the current 10-year US memorandum of understanding governing military relations with Israel signed in 2018, Israel should be given more time to respond to the US finding.

“After a careful process, we found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights. All of these were incidents much before October 7 and none took place in Gaza,” a state department spokesperson, Vedant Patel, said.

The Guardian reported in January that the Leahy laws were interpreted by different, more lenient rules in Israel compared with other countries.

Netzah Yehuda is notorious for a series of incidents involving abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank. In 2022, the battalion commander was reprimanded and the platoon commander and company commander were removed from their positions following the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man, Omar Assad, who suffered a heart attack after being detained, bound and gagged by members of the unit at a West Bank checkpoint.

The IOF admitted Assad’s death was a consequence of “moral failure and poor decision-making” by the soldiers who had detained him.

**Netzah Yehuda is now active in Gaza.**de

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has described the unit’s potential sanctioning by the US as the “height of absurdity and a moral low” and vowed to resist any such decision.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that several senior US officials in the state department have advised the secretary of state that Israeli assurances that it has used US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law, are not “credible or reliable”.

It didn’t start in Oct 7th!! … 💥

#reclaimthenarrative — 🕊🍉 — #FreePalestine … @hrexach …

[head-post]

US to impose sanctions on IDF for alleged human rights violations in West Bank

The Biden administration is set to impose sanctions on the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to a report by news site Axios.

The United States is slated to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda, as the battalion has been at the centre of several controversies in the past involving right-wing extremism and violence against Palestinians, notably including the death in 2022 of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who died after being detained, handcuffed, blindfolded and then abandoned by the battalion’s soldiers in near-freezing conditions.

Top US officials, including President Joe Biden, have increasingly criticised Israel’s military offensive in the besieged terror war, where the rising civilian death toll has sparked protests around the world.

Shortly after the Axios article was published, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded and condemned any sanctions imposed on the IDF, saying that the Israel Army “must not be sanctioned!”

Read more HERE

[agentfascinateur]

"The Netzah Yehuda battalion was originally set up to allow ultra-Orthodox Israelis to serve in the military. But over the years, the unit has attracted not only some of the most religious soldiers, but also a growing number of far-right extremists, including many settlers. Unlike other units, enlistment in Netzah Yehuda is voluntary; until recently, it was deployed exclusively in the West Bank, where its members were in daily contact with Palestinians living under occupation."

[darkmaga-retard]

Earlier reports said the US was going to sanction the unit, Netzah Yehuda, but Israeli officials lobbied against the plan

by Dave DeCamp August 11, 2024

The State Department said Friday that the US will continue providing military aid to an Israeli military unit that was responsible for the death of 78-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad.

In January 2022, Assad was detained by soldiers with the Netzah Yehuda Battalion at a temporary checkpoint in the West Bank. He was handcuffed, gagged, blindfolded, and left outside in the cold, where he died of a heart attack, which doctors said was stress-induced.

None of the soldiers involved in the incident faced criminal charges, but the State Department said the “violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated.” A US official told AFP that while no one was prosecuted for killing Assad, two of the soldiers involved were no longer in the military.

Members of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion had been involved in similar incidents in the past. In 2021, four soldiers were held on suspicion of beating and sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner.

Earlier this year, reports said that the US was planning to sanction Netzah Yehuda under the Leahy Laws, which prohibit foreign assistance to security forces guilty of human rights violations.

Israeli officials responded to the planned sanctions by launching a lobbying campaign, which delayed the sanctions and ultimately stopped them. “This unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

[sa7abnews]

US will send aid to Israeli army unit despite abuse concerns

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/11/us-will-send-aid-to-israeli-army-unit-despite-abuse-concerns/

US will send aid to Israeli army unit despite abuse concerns

The State Department said Friday it has opted against what would have been its first-ever blocking of aid to an Israeli military unit over rights abuses, saying it is now satisfied with Israeli efforts to remediate the abuse.

While the US has not publicly identified the Israeli unit, it is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda, which has historically been based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians in the Palestinian territory, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalion’s forces in 2022.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had determined in a finding made public in April that an Israeli army battalion committed grave human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, triggering a US rights law on aid to foreign security forces known as the Leahy law.

In the face of protests from Republican lawmakers over the finding, Blinken said he would allow aid to the unit to continue to give Israel time to address the wrongdoing.

While the alleged abuse occurred before Israel’s war in Gaza, news of Blinken’s decision came as criticism increased over the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Former senior State Department officials charged that the department has a history of making exceptions for Israel when it comes to Leahy law violations.

On Friday, the State Department said in a statement that it had received additional information from Israel about its handling of the case.

“After thoroughly reviewing that information, we have determined that violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated. Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance,” the State Department said.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details provided by Israel, said Israeli military prosecutors had identified two soldiers as meriting further action. They were removed from combat and have since left the military and are ineligible to serve in the reserves, the US official said.

Additionally, the Israeli military said it has stepped up screening, training and oversight for that unit, the US official said.

[girlactionfigure]

🔅 After Shabbat - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

PASSOVER is Monday night!

▪️CRAZY ISRAELI POLITICS.. (1) Former Prime Minister Olmert does not rule out a return to politics at the end of the seven-year no-politics-allowed period from the day of his conviction for bribery.

(2) Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: "If other countries did not cooperate with us, we would have only intercepted 75% of the missiles from Iran.” (( One, likely not true, two, what kind of former prime minister shares information that strengthens your enemies? ))

▪️HAMAS LEAVING QATAR.. Following Qatar leadership's incessant anger and pressure on the leaders of Hamas regarding negotiations on the hostage deal, the Wall Street Journal reports the Hamas leadership is leaving its political headquarters in Qatar, for an unknown destination. One of the destinations that the group is considering is Oman. Another possibility is Turkey as the Hamas leader met with Turkey’s president today.

▪️AIR TRAVEL.. Polish Airline LOT restores flights to Israel.

▪️US TO SANCTION IDF NETZACH YEHUDA BATTALION???  The US Secretary of State will announce within days the imposition of sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion because of allegations of violence against Palestinians. The American sanctions will prohibit the transfer of American military aid to the battalion, prevent its soldiers and officers from taking part in training with the United States Army, or participating in activities that receive American funding.  (Reporter Barak Ravid)

(( This is more bizarre “we show balance” activity from the administration - Netzach Yehuda’s normal duty station is Judea-Samaria, and right wing Israelis are screaming about the IDF treating the Palestinians with kid gloves. ))

▪️US FUNDING.. combined Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan funding bill passes US House, moving to US Senate but supported by president.

[xtruss]

Israeli soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda battalion on training exercises in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on May 19, 2014. Photo: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

This AIPAC Donor Funnels Millions To An IDF Unit Accused Of Violating Human Rights

The Battalion Has A Dedicated U.S. Nonprofit To Support Its Operations — Whose President Is Supporting AIPAC’s Political Agenda.

— Akela Lacy | May 23 2024

THE NETZAH YEHUDA battalion is an all-male unit of the Israel Defense Forces that was formed to allow ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military while still complying with their religious beliefs, through accommodations like providing time for prayer and limiting interactions with women.

The battalion is also notorious for its alleged abuses of Palestinians and human rights violations in the West Bank, including an incident that led to the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man in 2022. These allegations landed the group, formally known as the Nahal Haredi, on a short list of IDF units that Secretary of State Antony Blinken intended to sanction last month. That move would have cut off the battalion’s supply of U.S. weapons and other military aid — until the Biden administration backed away from those plans under pressure from Israeli officials.

But the battalion has another reliable source of international support: a charitable nonprofit in the U.S.

“It’s Absolutely Incomprehensible That We Provide Tax Write-Offs To American Citizens Who Use Their Funds To Support Groups And Activities That Are Clear Violators Of Human Rights.”

The man leading that organization, which has funneled millions to the IDF group in recent years, is also a donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, which is running a multimillion-dollar campaign to oust critics of Israel’s human rights abuses from Congress and install stalwart pro-Israel allies in their place.

“It’s absolutely incomprehensible that we provide tax write-offs to American citizens who use their funds to support groups and activities that are clear violators of human rights and violators of what is essentially American policy,” said Jim Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute. “And now, some of the very groups that we are holding up as sanctionable for their human rights behavior similarly are getting tax write-offs. It’s simply something that ought to end.”

The Biden administration was considering sanctioning Netzah Yehuda under the Leahy Laws, which are intended to stop the country from funding, supplying, or training security forces credibly accused of human rights abuses. State Department staffers sent Blinken a report earlier this year recommending that the battalion be sanctioned in order to disqualify it from receiving U.S. aid, according to ProPublica reporting. After making noises that he intended to follow up on the recommendations, the State Department ultimately backed down in response to pressure from Israeli officials.

Those sanctions would only apply to military aid. The government has the power to impose separate economic sanctions on foreign violators of human rights but has similarly declined to act in the case of this battalion.

Friends of Nahal Haredi, the U.S. nonprofit that supports the battalion, is led by a man named Stephen Rosedale, the founder and chairman of a company that operates more than 100 long-term care, medical rehab, and other healthcare facilities across seven states. Rosedale, a registered Republican, has given a total of $33,500 to AIPAC and its affiliated political action committees this cycle, including $25,000 to AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, and $10,500 to AIPAC’s regular PAC. Rosedale is also backing the challengers picked by AIPAC to oust Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Cori Bush, D-Mo., in its plan to unseat the Squad. Rosedale has also given at least half a million dollars to various U.S. political campaigns since 2009.

Rosedale, Friends of Nahal Haredi, and the United Democracy Project did not respond to requests for comment.

“We know that AIPAC’s primary role is to prevent any accountability for the Israeli government and military,” said Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow, a Jewish advocacy group. “So it’s not surprising that their donors are also backing IDF battalions with scores of documented human rights violations.”

Netzah Yehuda’s alleged human rights violations include leaving a 78-year-old Palestinian American man detained during a raid in the West Bank outside overnight before he died of cardiac arrest. The man, Omar As’ad, was a U.S. citizen and had previously lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Israeli officials dismissed two battalion officers after As’ad died but said it was not possible to determine whether their conduct caused his death. The State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the circumstances of As’ad’s death and called for a thorough criminal investigation. No one was ultimately prosecuted for As’ad’s death.

“Why Are We Not Treating AIPAC Like The NRA When We Know It’s Funded By People Who Also Support Weapons Sales With Zero Accountability For Civilian Deaths?”

“The question here is really for the Democratic Party,” Borgwardt said. “Are they going to side with the majority of Americans who want a ceasefire and conditions on weapons to Israel? Or are they going to side with AIPAC and its unconditional backing of Netanyahu’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza?”

AIPAC’s efforts to silence critics of Israel in Congress should make the group as repulsive to Democrats as the National Rifle Association, Borgwardt said. “Why are we not treating AIPAC like the NRA when we know it’s funded by people who also support weapons sales with zero accountability for civilian deaths including those of thousands of children?”

Rosedale’s support for AIPAC’s super PAC is his largest campaign contribution so far this year, and more than double the rest of the contributions he’s made since January. In March, Rosedale gave $1,000 to the campaign for Westchester County Executive George Latimer, whom AIPAC recruited last year to challenge Bowman. Rosedale also gave $2,000 to Wesley Bell, who AIPAC endorsed against Bush. In 2022, Rosedale gave $50,000 to AIPAC’s super PAC and $6,000 to its regular PAC.

Rosedale has given mostly to Democrats in recent years, including regular contributions to state Democratic parties. He gave this year to state Democratic parties in Maine, Wisconsin, Montana, and Delaware. Since January, he’s given to several other candidates backed by the pro-Israel lobby including $1,000 each in January to Reps. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. Combined, Brown and Torres have taken close to $1 million from AIPAC since 2022. Across the aisle, Rosedale gave $4,000 to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in December.

AIPAC is expected to spend up to $20 million in each upcoming primary against Bowman and Bush. AIPAC recruited Latimer, Bowman’s challenger, and has endorsed both him and Bell, Bush’s opponent. AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, dropped close to $2 million in the last week on ads attacking Bowman. AIPAC has bundled almost a quarter of Latimer’s total contributions so far, including almost half of his contributions in the final quarter of 2023. Both Latimer and Bell have faced criticism for taking money from Republican donors seeking to oust progressives in Democratic primaries.

AIPAC had planned to spend $100 million this cycle to oust Squad members critical of U.S. military aid for Israel. But as several Squad members have shored up their support and held steady on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, AIPAC has shifted its strategy to focus instead on ousting Bowman and Bush, whom the group determined were the most vulnerable. After failing to recruit two potential challengers to run against Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., AIPAC ended up not spending on her race. Lee won her May primary against challenger Bhavini Patel by more than 20 percentage points. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have far outraised their current challengers.

[sab-cat]

Mon 29 Apr 2024

The units found to be involved in abuses in the West Bank are mostly from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) but include at least one police unit. They have not been sanctioned, however, the state department said.

Four of the units were judged to have carried out effective remedial action after the US state department shared its findings with Israel.

The fifth, an ultra-orthodox military unit known as Netzah Yehuda, drawn in part from West Bank settlers, was about to be blacklisted earlier this month under the Leahy laws, which ban US funding of any foreign military units involved in atrocities....

Netzah Yehuda is notorious for a series of incidents involving abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank. In 2022, the battalion commander was reprimanded and the platoon commander and company commander were removed from their positions following the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man, Omar Assad, who suffered a heart attack after being detained, bound and gagged by members of the unit at a West Bank checkpoint.

The IDF admitted Assad’s death was a consequence of “moral failure and poor decision-making” by the soldiers who had detained him.

Netzah Yehuda is now active in Gaza. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has described the unit’s potential sanctioning by the US as the “height of absurdity and a moral low” and vowed to resist any such decision.

[divinum-pacis]

The Ultra Orthodox vs. The IDF: Israel's Other Religious War

Since Israel's inception, the Haredi — ultra-Orthodox adherents of Judaism —have been exempt from the country's military conscription laws. But their growing population, coupled with their high unemployment rate and dependence on state benefits, sparked outrage within the country's secular majority. After years of demanding that the Haredi share the responsibility of serving in the armed forces, the Israeli government passed an unprecedented law in March 2014 that requires Haredi men to serve in the military. 

The decision resulted in major opposition from the Ultra Orthodox community, from violent protests to religious leaders demanding that no one should comply. VICE News travels to Israel to speak with hardline members and leaders of the Ultra Orthodox community as well as soldiers in the Netzah Yehuda, the IDF's Ultra Orthodox Battalion, to get their take on the government's decision.

[tieflingkisser]

CAIR Says Secretary Blinken Should Resign After Backtracking on Sanctioning Murderous Israeli Military Unit

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said Secretary of State Antony Blinken should resign after reports that he has ended the investigation into the Israel military’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for war crimes human rights violations in the occupied West Bank. Blinken reportedly told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the U.S. will not impose sanctions on the unit. One of the unit’s war crimes resulted in the death of 80-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad. In a statement, CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:

“Secretary Blinken is knowingly violating U.S. law by backtracking on his plan to sanction an Israeli military unit that has clearly committed gross human rights violations using U.S. weapons. Secretary Blinken’s cowardly, morally reprehensible and blatantly illegal decision confirms what numerous State Department whistleblowers have said: he is disregarding the conclusions of career diplomats, as well as experts on federal and international law. Secretary Blinken is now as much of a war criminal as the war criminal he will continue to arm, Israeli defense minister Gallant, and he should resign his office in disgrace.”

He noted that earlier this year, CAIR condemned Blinken’s apparent backtracking on sanctioning the unit for human rights abuses.