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[Text/Ruan Jiaqi, Observer Network]

On the 9th local time, Axios News Network quoted exclusive reports from two senior US and Israeli officials as saying that US Secretary of State Blinken spoke with the Israeli Defense Minister on Friday and informed him that he had decided to end the investigation into the human rights violations committed by the IDF's "Yehuda Victory Battalion" in the occupied West Bank and would not impose sanctions on the force.

In April this year, US media broke the news that Blinken would impose sanctions on the "Camp Yehuda Victory" on the grounds of "human rights violations." This would be an unprecedented move by the Biden administration against Israel. The news quickly aroused dissatisfaction on the Israeli side, and cracks reappeared in US-Israel relations.

According to Axios, Galant has held several secret talks with Blinken and other senior US officials in recent months, trying to show that the IDF has taken measures to deal with human rights violations by members of the battalion. US media said that ending the investigation was a "major diplomatic achievement" for Galant.

On May 1, local time, in Israel, US Secretary of State Blinken and Israeli Defense Minister Galant visited the Kerem Shalom Port. Visual China

A senior U.S. official told Axios that Blinken actually determined that the Yehuda Victory Camp had committed serious human rights violations, but based on information provided by Israel over the past three months, the Israel Defense Forces remedied the camp's behavior and addressed U.S. concerns.

According to him, the IDF provided evidence to the United States that the two soldiers involved in the most serious incidents in the investigation had been relieved of combat missions and were ineligible for reserve service. He also said that the IDF showed the United States that Israel has taken more measures to avoid such incidents, including changes to the vetting process for soldiers who want to join the Ministry of Defense and a two-week seminar on human rights violations specifically for the unit.

"As we announced in April, the State Department's careful review found that serious human rights violations by two IDF units and two civilian administration units had been effectively remedied," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement on Friday.

He added, "Over the past several months, the State Department has continued to review another unit to assess new information provided by the Government of Israel. After thoroughly reviewing this information, we determined that the unit's violations had also been effectively corrected and that the unit could continue to receive U.S. security assistance in accordance with the Leahy Act process."

The Washington Post pointed out that this result means a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but also a "crushing defeat" for human rights experts within the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon, who have been advocating for years that certain Israeli forces should be banned from receiving U.S. aid under the Leahy Act. They believe that Blinken's approach breaks the convention that the United States stops providing aid before serious accountability measures are taken.

“I’ve never seen an example of an executive action being used to justify a remedy like this,” said Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who was responsible for enforcing the Leahy Act. “It’s particularly troubling when one of the charges against the unit is that it was responsible for the death of an American citizen. It really calls into question how much the State Department values ​​Palestinian American lives.”

According to US media, the Yehuda Victory Battalion is affiliated with the Young Lions Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. It is an all-male infantry battalion composed of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews and religious nationalists. It was established in 1999. It now has a size of thousands of people and was previously stationed in the West Bank for a long time. Although its number is not high among the local Israeli troops, the battalion has been accused of violating the human rights of Palestinians, shooting and beating civilians for many years.

According to data provided by Israeli human rights organizations, one in five Israeli soldiers convicted of harming Palestinians or their property since 2010 was from the Yehuda Victory Battalion, which has the highest conviction rate in such cases.

The reason why the US decided to intervene was that in 2022, Omar Assad, an 80-year-old Palestinian-American with dual citizenship, was detained by the "Camp Yehuda Victory" at a checkpoint in the West Bank and treated violently. He eventually died tragically of a heart attack caused by external violence. After the incident was exposed, it aroused strong dissatisfaction from the US.

Omar al-Assad's widow cries at his funeral on January 13, 2022. The Washington Post

In response to US concerns, the Israeli military launched an investigation, but on the grounds that "it was impossible to directly link the soldiers' actions to the death of American citizens," it only disciplined three officers and did not bring criminal charges against anyone.

In December 2023, a special panel of the US State Department recommended that Blinken, based on the Leahy Act, deprive several Israeli military and police forces, including the Yehuda Victory Battalion, of their qualifications to receive US aid.

In April this year, US media broke the news that Blinken would announce sanctions against the Yehuda Victory Camp within a few days for "human rights violations." This news attracted a lot of attention because it would be the first time the United States has sanctioned an Israeli military unit, which means that the organization will not be eligible to receive any US military assistance, participate in US-funded activities, or participate in US military training.

Israel was furious. Netanyahu directly posted on social media, angrily denouncing the intention to impose sanctions on the Israeli army as "extremely absurd and immoral", and declared that he would do his utmost to fight it. Far-right hard-line official and Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich even insulted, "The US government is absolutely crazy."

After that, there was no news about this matter until the US State Department recently announced the end of its investigation. Simon Tsipis, an Israeli international relations scholar, pointed out earlier that Biden, who was then the Democratic presidential candidate, showed a "left-right struggle" on Israel policy, trying to gain the support of both Jewish and Muslim voters before the election. Even if the Biden administration really imposes sanctions on the "Yehuda Victory Camp", the purpose is only for the domestic political needs of the United States to create an illusion of punishing Israel, not to weaken Israel's overall military strength.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.