Rabia Iclal Turan
29 April 2024•Update: 30 April 2024
WASHINGTON
The US on Monday said it has found five Israeli units committed gross violations of human rights before the start of Israel's war on Gaza following Hamas' cross-border attack last Oct. 7.
“Four of these units have effectively remediated violations,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that all of the incidents occurred before Oct. 7 and none took place in the Gaza Strip, the focus of the conflict in the months since last October.
He added that remediation is in consistent with what the US expects its partners to do.
“We continue to be in consultations and engagements with the government of Israel,” Patel said. “They have submitted additional information as it pertains to that unit, and we’re continuing to have those conversations”.
Patel repeatedly stressed that the US has seen remediation of Israel’s violations and the process regarding the fifth unit is still ongoing.
When asked if there are double standards when it comes to the US’ approach to Israel, Patel said there is no such thing as “special treatment” or “double standards” and the standards are applied “consistently to all countries”.
The statement came after reports that some senior State Department officials advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel might be violating international law and Israel’s assurances that it submitted to the State Department regarding the use of US weapons are not “credible or reliable”.
According to a Feb. 8 memorandum signed by President Joe Biden, countries that receive US military assistance are required to give Washington "credible and reliable written assurances" that the arms will be used in compliance with "international human rights law and international humanitarian law."
Israel submitted written assurances to the State Department last month, but human rights groups said those assurances were not credible and urged the government to suspend arms transfers to Israel.
When asked regarding the reports that Israel violated the Leahy laws, Blinken said on April 22 that it is a "good example of a process that is very deliberate, that seeks to get the facts to get all the information that has to be done carefully”.
The Leahy Law, named after former Senator Patrick Leahy, requires the US to withhold military assistance from foreign military or law enforcement units if there is credible evidence of human rights violations.
The US is reportedly preparing to impose sanctions on the Israeli military's NetzahYehuda battalion over human rights violations committed by the combat unit against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
