[Salon] WHY IS U.S. FUNDING AN ISRAELI MILITARY UNIT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF AN AMERICAN? Guest Post by Allan Brownfeld

WHY IS U.S. FUNDING AN ISRAELI MILITARY UNIT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF AN AMERICAN? BY ALLAN C.BROWNFELD ————————————————————————————————————————- In a strange decision by the Biden Administration, an Israeli security unit found by the United States to have committed gross violations of human rights will continue to receive U.S. Government funding. According to the Washington Post, this decision “amounts to a victory for Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a stinging defeat for human rights experts inside the State Department and Pentagon who built a case over years that certain Israeli units should be barred from U.S. assistance under legislation known as the Leahy Laws.” The legislation created by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) prohibits the U.S. Government from providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights with impunity. Consider what this Israeli military unit did to a U.S. citizen. Omar Assad was a 78-year old former grocery store owner from Milwaukee who had been detained at a West Bank checkpoint. Assad was reported to have suffered a stress-induced heart attack, likely brought on by being bound, gagged and held by Israeli forces, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said at the time. According to the IDF, his death was the result of “moral failure and poor decision-making” by the soldiers who had detained him, for no discernible reason. Despite the fact that the IDF members faced no criminal penalties, the State Department said it was satisfied. Current and former U.S. officials said that the decision by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to approve continued funding for the unit defied past practices of withholding assistance until accountability measures are taken, such as criminal penalties for IDF personnel accused of gross human rights violations. Charles Blaha, a former State Department official in charge of the office that implements the Leahy Laws, says, “I have never seen a case where administrative measures such as the ones employed here were sufficient for remediation. This is especially troubling when one of the allegations against the unit is that the unit is responsible for the death of an American citizen, which really calls into question the value that the State Department places on Palestinian American lives.” Blaha, who retired last year from the State Department, said the consequences didn’t match what amounts to “a criminal homicide.” In his view, “Just think about what they did: This was a 78 year old man. They arrested him for no legitimate reason—he was never charged with anything, they gagged him, they bound him, they left him on the floor of a construction site in the middle of January. The man died of a stress-induced heart attack, according to the Israeli autopsy. The autopsy, however, found no connection between what the soldiers did to him and his fatal heart attack. In what U.S. court would that be credible? How would that hold up?” This case does not stand alone. A panel known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum, it has been reported, said it found multiple instances of gross violations of human rights by Netzah Yehuda and other Israeli units, all occurring in the West Bank. In not a single case did the State Department take any action. The legislation Sen. Leahy successfully introduced to prevent American taxpayers from financing illegal and immoral behavior by the IDF appears to have become a dead letter. Four members of this same battalion were arrested in October 2021 for allegedly beating and sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee. Israeli soldiers who take part in attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rarely face prosecution despite widespread evidence of rights violations. When Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem say that soldiers often stand by or directly join in the attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is the subject of a war crimes investigation by the International Criminal Court himself, visited troops from the Netzah Yehuda battalion. He said, “No one in the world can teach us about morals or values.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, declares that Israel’s army “is the most moral in the world.” Former State Department official Joseph Blaha declares that, “Israel is essentially exempt from U.S. law.” The facts seem to contradict Mr. Netanyahu’s declaration. In early August, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published its annual report which it titled, “Welcome To Hell.” It reports torture and sexual abuse of Palestinians jailed by the Israeli army. In B’Tselem’s view, Israel has conducted a systematic policy of prisoner abuse and torture since the start of the Gaza war, subjecting Palestinian detainees to acts ranging from arbitrary violence to sexual abuse. B’Tselem concludes that,”The testimonies clearly indicate a systematic institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The overall picture indicates abuse and torture carried out under orders, in utter defiance of Israel’s obligations under both domestic and international law.” In Israel itself, most of the media completely ignored the B’Tselem report. Discussing this in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Gideon Levy wrote: “Anyone who wants to become familiar with the spirit of the times in Israel should note how most of the media outlets ignored the report, which should have caused outrage and shock in Israel…A protestor against Israel’s policy of detention without trial holds a sign reading ‘Guantanamo here’…” Levy points out that, “When you read the 94 pages of the B’Tselem report…you understand that it wasn’t an exceptional incident. It’s the routine of torture, which has become a policy. As opposed to the torture by Shin Bet, which presumably had a security-minded purpose—-to extract information—-here it’s solely to satisfy the darkest and sickest sadistic urges….The indifference to all these things defines Israel. The public legitimization defines Israel. In the Guantanamo Bay detention camp that was opened by the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks , 9 prisoners were killed in 20 years. Here it’s 60 detainees in 10 months. Need anything more be said?” Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S.foreign aid since its founding—-receiving about $310 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total military and economic assistance. Currently, it receives about $3.3 billion annually. Should American taxpayers continue to finance groups like the unit which killed an innocent American for no reason—-and for which no one was held responsible? Should a system outlined by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem be supported by American taxpayers? The actions by Israel’s current government violate basic American values. Our policy should reflect our values which, at the present time, it does not seem to do.