An Israeli military unit that committed “gross human rights violations” in the eyes of U.S. officials remains eligible for U.S. military equipment, a prominent U.S. official acknowledged, pending “ongoing” discussions about accountability.
“After a careful process, we found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Monday. “Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do. … For a remaining unit, we continue to be in consultations and engagements with the government of Israel; they have submitted additional information as it pertains to that unit.”
That finding puts the U.S. government in the fraught position of accusing Israeli forces of severe human rights abuses without applying the aid restrictions contemplated by a federal law known as the Leahy Law. Patel outlined their approach to the controversy amid a wave of anti-war protests on college campuses across the United States, as well as a backchannel diplomatic struggle over the International Criminal Court’s potential to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
“All of these were incidents much before Oct. 7, and none took place in Gaza,” Patel said, emphasizing later that “we’ve been incredibly clear on this dating back to a number of months that we find allegations of genocide in this current, ongoing conflict in Gaza to continue to be unfounded.”
Asked specifically if the unit in question remains eligible for U.S. military aid, he replied, “That is the interpretation of the law.”
The alleged abuses in question stem from incidents that pre-date the ongoing war in Gaza, which was ignited on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists broke through the Gaza border fence, murdering 1,200 civilians in southern Israel and taking about 240 people as hostages back into the Gaza Strip.
The ensuing conflict has been one of the most devastating in the history of the modern state of Israel, as international observers assess both that Hamas has used human shields and that Israel has not taken adequate steps to mitigate civilian casualties and to provide humanitarian assistance for Palestinians caught in the crossfire.
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“Everything could have been over in an instant if Hamas had stopped hiding behind civilians, put down its weapons, given back the hostages, and surrendered. None of the suffering that we’ve seen since would have happened,” Blinken said earlier Monday. “So where is the demand on Hamas? There’s been silence. It’s almost as if it’s been erased from the story. That’s something that I think we also need to reflect on even, as I say, I profoundly understand the deep emotion that people are expressing, whether it’s on our campuses or other places.”
Patel downplayed the efficacy of the protests as a mechanism to influence U.S. policy. “When it comes to people protesting and sharing their opinions, making their voices heard, that is something that is consistent with the First Amendment,” he said. “When it comes to the policy that we’re pursuing … the only real metric for us is what is in the interests for the American people and what keeps the American people safer and more secure.”