The US State Department has determined that five Israeli security units committed serious human rights violations before the outbreak of the war with Hamas in Gaza, but is still deciding whether to restrict military assistance to one of the units under the law. US.
The other four “have effectively remedied these violations,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Monday.
The United States is still deciding whether to restrict assistance to the remaining unit, said to be the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.
“We continue to maintain consultations and engagement with the Government of Israel. They have sent additional information as it pertains to that unit and we continue to have those conversations,” Patel said.
“All of these were incidents long before October 7 and none took place in Gaza,” Patel said.
According to a source familiar, the Israelis informed the United States in recent weeks about previously undisclosed actions they had taken and the United States is reviewing those actions to see if they are enough to avoid restricting aid.
Under the Leahy Act, the United States cannot provide assistance to foreign security units that are credibly implicated in human rights abuses, but there is an exception “that allows assistance to a unit to resume if the Secretary of State determines and informs to Congress that the country’s government is taking effective measures to bring responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.”
In recent weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly alluded to having made a determination in accordance with the law. He described the Leahy Act determination process as “a good example of a process that is very deliberate.”
“Seek to get the facts, get all the information; that must be done carefully. And that is exactly how we proceed with any country that receives military assistance from the United States,” he said last week.
Patel rejected the idea that Israel was “being offered a one-size-fits-all deal” by being given more time to present information to avoid possible punishment.
“There is nothing I have described here that is inconsistent with the Leahy process,” he said.
Patel did not provide details on when the “additional information” was submitted to the United States. Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed immense anger and concern following reports of possible imminent action several weeks ago.
“This remains an ongoing process. And if at any point it is found that remediation efforts or things like that are inconsistent with the standards that we found, there will, of course, be a restriction on applicable US assistance,” Patel said.
Patel also declined to detail the units or discuss specific details of the remediation process. He said he did not know if the fifth unit had taken any remedial measures.
“The standard for redress is for these respective countries to take effective measures to bring the responsible party to justice. And that is different depending on the country,” she said at a press conference.
This story has been updated with additional details.