"Israel har rett til å forsvare seg", lyder temmelig hult nå. (Red.)
US determines 5 Israeli security units
committed human rights violations before outbreak of Gaza war
By Jennifer
Hansler, CNN
3 minute read
Updated 1:58 PM EDT, Mon April 29, 2024
CNN —
The US State Department has determined that
five Israeli security units committed gross violations of human rights prior to
the outbreak of the war with Hamas in Gaza, but is still deciding whether to restrict
military assistance to one of the units under US law.
The other four “have effectively remediated
these violations,” deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said
Monday.
The US is still deciding whether to restrict
assistance to the remaining unit – reported to be the ultra-Orthodox Netzah
Yehuda battalion.
“We continue to be in consultations and
engagements with the Government of Israel. They have submitted additional
information as it pertains to that unit, and we’re continuing to have those
conversations,” Patel said.
“All of these were incidents much before
October 7, and none took place in Gaza,” Patel noted.
According to a source familiar, the Israelis
told the US in recent weeks about previously undisclosed actions they’ve taken
and the US is reviewing those actions to see whether they are
sufficient enough to hold off restricting aid.
Under the Leahy Law, the US cannot provide
assistance to foreign security units that are credibly implicated in human
rights abuses, but there is an exception “permitting resumption of assistance
to a unit if the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the
government of the country is taking effective steps to bring the responsible
members of the security forces unit to justice.”
In recent weeks, Secretary of State Antony
Blinken repeatedly alluded to having made a determination under the law. He
described the Leahy Law determination process as “a good example of a process
that is very deliberate.”
“It seeks to get the facts, to get all the
information – that has to be done carefully. And that’s exactly how we
proceeded as we proceed with any country that is the recipient of military
assistance from the United States,” he said last week.
Patel pushed back on the idea that Israel
was “being offered unique treatment” by being granted more time to present
information to hold off potential punishment.
“There is nothing that I have outlined here
that is inconsistent with the Leahy process,” he said.
Patel would not provide details about when
the “additional information” was presented to the US. Israeli officials,
including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed immense anger and
concern following reports of potential impending action several weeks ago.
“This continues to be an ongoing process.
And if at any point remediation efforts or things like that are found to be
inconsistent with the standards that we find, there of course will be a
restriction on applicable US assistance,” Patel said.
Patel also declined to detail the units or
speak about specifics of the remediation process. He said he did not know
whether the fifth unit had taken any remediation steps.
“The standard of remediation is
that these respective countries take effective steps to hold the
accountable party to justice. And that is different on a country-by-country
basis,” he said at a press briefing.
This story has been updated with additional
details.
