Washington – Ma’an – The US State Department announced on Friday that it will not impose sanctions on the “Netzah Yehuda” Battalion in the Israeli army, which was involved in the killing of the elderly Palestinian, Omar Asaad, who holds American citizenship in addition to his Palestinian citizenship.

She justified this by saying that “Israel had already taken the necessary measures.”

It is noteworthy that the elderly man Asaad was martyred on January 12, 2022, after being detained and assaulted by an occupation army force, in an abandoned house in the village of Jaljalia, north of the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli force had detained him, after assaulting him by beating him, tying his hands, and blindfolding him, and leaving him bleeding in the bitter cold, which led to his martyrdom later at that time.

At the time, the military prosecution decided to close the investigation file with the Israeli soldiers involved in committing the crime of abuse without indicting any of them.

An
earlier statement issued by the occupation army stated that “the investigation shows that the incident was serious and unfortunate,” adding that “the incident indicated a moral failure on the part of the (involved) force, an error in assessing the situation, and a serious violation of the value of human dignity.”

The US administration is backing down

At the end of last April, Israeli sources estimated that the US administration would ‘reverse its decision’ to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion following ‘widespread anger and opposition from all parties’ in Israel.

Reports at the time indicated that ‘the Israeli army fears that the American move will lead to serious retaliatory responses against other units as well.’ Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, President Isaac Herzog, and War Cabinet member Benny Gantz (who later resigned from the cabinet), expressed their support for the Netzah Yehuda Battalion and described its actions as in li
ne with the ‘values ??and ethics’ of the Israeli army.

“Necessary steps have been taken.”

The US State Department said in its statement, yesterday, Friday, that its decision not to impose sanctions on this battalion came “after receiving information from the Israeli government.”

“After a thorough review of this information, we have concluded that appropriate steps have been taken to correct the violations committed by this battalion,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said.

“This battalion can continue to benefit from security support from the United States,” he added.

Source: Maan News Agency