This article is missing some very notable context.

First, this battalion is a Haredi battalion. The Haredi are Orthodox Jews: they're very far right, and also highly unpopular within Israel because they're exempt from the draft. Every other Israeli is required to serve, but the Haredi get exempted and supported by government incomes to just study torah full-time. They are not even allowed to work.

Anyway, the court just ruled that IDF can't keep exempting them from military service, and they are pissed. They are threatening to collapse the governing coalition over this, and Netanyahu cannot stay in power without their support. Against this backdrop, there is this battalion in the West Bank that is set up to accommodate Haredi volunteers' ultraconservative lifestyle which is supposed to be the model for integrating them into the army. However guess what? It turns out that a military regiment staffed entirely with far right religious zealots who volunteered to "secure" occupied territory is liable to do exactly what their religious education dictates, and the old testament does NOT conform to modern rules of war. Back then, rape and genocide was de rigueur.

However unlike sanctions against random settlers, this means something: Antony Blinken has been bending over backwards to bury any requests for investigations into war crimes by the IDF, because it's actually against the law for him to supply them with weapons if he knows about atrocities.

If the US sanctions a battalion... that opens the door to some big shit. Once you recognize that SOME of the IDF is violating international law, it gets much, much, harder to legally justify arming them. Restricting weapons to a single battalion is not unusual within US military aid, but in this case it's not a small step. It's a potentially seismic shift in US policy.

I will say something I haven't said in months: this is good news. This is the first time I can think of that Biden is actually doing something that could make a difference. It's not enough. We need far more. But this is actual, serious progress.

the Biden administration is set to blacklist a unit for alleged human rights violations in Gaza.

Oh for fuck's sake...

How common/uncommon is this? I don't think I've ever heard of a unit being sanctioned rather than the government that gives them orders. Seems like a bullshit slap on the wrist.

Blacklist a unit? 😂 Is that unit another country or something? Does our government really believe people are That stupid?

Need to crosspost this in “Not the Onion.”

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement condemning sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after a report surfaced claiming that the Biden administration is set to blacklist a unit for alleged human rights violations in Gaza.

Top U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have been increasingly critical of Israel's military offensive in the besieged terrority, where the mounting civilian death toll has sparked protests around the world.

Adding to the friction between the U.S. and longtime ally Israel, an Axios report published on Saturday stated that within days Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF's "Netzah Yehuda" battalion for alleged human rights abuses.

"The State of Israel has a strong, independent judicial system that evaluates meticulously any claim of a violation or deviation from IDF orders and code of conduct, and will continue to do so," Gantz said in the social media post.

"I have great appreciation for our American friends, but the decision to impose sanctions on an IDF unit and its soldiers sets a dangerous precedent and conveys the wrong message to our shared enemies during wartime.

The war was sparked by a raid on October 7, 2023, into southern Israel carried out by Hamas and other militant groups that left roughly 1,200 people dead and about 250 hostages taken into Gaza.

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