Sources told ABC News on Friday that the Joe Biden administration will not punish three military battalions affiliated with the Israeli army despite committing “serious human rights violations.”
The sources said, “The Biden administration has reached the conclusion that three Israeli military brigades have committed – grave human rights violations – against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, but they will remain eligible for US military aid, due to the steps that Israel says it is taking to address the problem.”
The Biden administration’s assessment has not yet been announced publicly, but these details came in an undated letter sent by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson, and obtained by ABC News.
Blinken wrote in the letter that the US assessment “will not delay the delivery of any US aid, and Israel will be able to receive the full amount allocated by Congress.”
Overall, five units — three military and two civilian — were under U.S. review for human rights violations, according to Blinken’s letter.
This decision is likely to anger critics of the US administration, who say that not enough is being done to hold Israel accountable.
A 1997 US law prohibits US foreign aid and Department of Defense training programs directed to foreign security, military and police units that are credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations.
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