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97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion [Judah's Victory]

The Netzah Yehuda, or “Judah's Victory”, which belongs to the Kafir Brigade of the infantry, is a unit for ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers located in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which in recent years investigated several incidents in which the battalion was involved, said that the conclusion it reached was that the battalion “has become a kind of independent militia that is not subject to army rules.” Initislly known as Nahal Haredi, in recent years, it has become a destination for radical right-wing settlers. Settlers are Israeli citizens who live in illegal settlements on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Netzah Yehuda track includes service in the IDF for two years, and a third year dedicated to vocational studies, completing matriculation or pre- academic preparatory school with the aim of optimally integrating the graduate into Israeli society while preserving the values with which he grew up.

Since the stated goal of the recruiters is to appeal only to young men who have dropped out of the ultra-Orthodox educational frameworks, elements of ultra-orthodox society opposed the establishment of the regiment. The opposition was expressed, among other things, in sharp rants , some of which were directed against Rabbi Steinman , one of the leaders of the Orthodox- Lithuanian public , who gave tacit approval to the unit. Rabbi Steinman himself disowned the ultra-Orthodox Nahal and claimed that he never supported it, and even said that the ultra-Orthodox river "purifies the impure and defiles the pure," and this is only good for those who observe Shabbat and are required to circumcise. Other rabbis who signed against the framework are Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Yitzhak Kadoori, Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wazner and the Rebbe of Rahmistrivka Rabbi Israel Mordechai Tversky.

In 1961, the ultra-Orthodox Nahal Battalion was established in Moshav Amieuz in the Eshkol region. The move was led by Rabbi Moshe Ernster , with the blessing of Rabbi Chaim Meir Hagar of Wizenitz. The attempt was not successful and the soldiers were transferred to Moshav Kommiam and the authority of Agudat Israel youth , where it operated for a period of time and was also called the "Orthodox Nahal". There they were under the supervision of Rabbi Benjamin Mendelsohn. The soldiers served in combat units and others according to their medical profile, after which they performed the fulfillment phase in communes and in Chazon Yehezkel. The founder and first commander of the Nahal was Moshe Haim Sheinfeld, the ultra-Orthodox Nahal lost fighters in the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War and other operations. In the seventies this unit was closed.

The beginning of the current battalion was in 1999 , as a company in Battalion 903 - the Nahal's Reconnaissance Battalion. The first nucleus of the "Nahal Haredi" battalion included 30 soldiers, as part of a project initiated by the "Netzah Yehuda" organization in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army. The name “Netzah Yehuda” is an abbreviation of the phrase “Haredi Military Youth,” according to the organization, as Yehuda was named after the founder of the battalion, Yehuda Duvdevani.

The establishment of the battalion was met with rabbinical opposition, when in 2002 it became an independent battalion. Unlike other IDF units, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, primarily made up of ultra-Orthodox soldiers, had been permanently stationed in the West Bank since the early 2000s. The government created Netzah Yehuda to facilitate ultra-Orthodox and other religious soldiers’ military service, allowing them to maintain their religious practices, such as by allowing additional time for prayers and religious study and limiting interactions with women. Over the years, the unit became a destination for many "Hilltop Youth" — young radical right wing settlers who weren't accepted into other combat unit in the IDF.

The Haredi Nahal (Warrior Pioneer Youth) is a route that combines military service in the Nahal Battalion with service in Pituach City or in a kibbutz as part of the Nahal forces. The track was established specifically to allow ultra-Orthodox youths who belong to the "Torah and Art" arrangement and do not study in yeshivot, to enlist in combat service in the IDF under conditions that will allow them to maintain their normal lifestyle: a regular daily schedule for prayers, sacred lessons from rabbis, strictly kosher food, and the like. You will not find women there - they are not part of the team of instructors and in fact they are not allowed to enter the place of service , and those who join him will probably serve there.

Organizationally, the battalion belongs to the 900th Brigade, (usually a black beret), but the Nahal Haredi recruits will be able to be proud of a green beret. In practice, a small minority joins the battalion, and it is filled mainly by youth from the hills and ultra-Orthodox nationals who are interested in the conditions of separation from girls and strict kosher.

The core courses in the ultra-Orthodox Nahal: the beginning of the training course is more or less the same as the training courses of the other infantry units, with special consideration for the ultra-Orthodox population and its conditions. The only difference is that after two years of active and combat service, which includes certification as an infantry fighter, operational employment and training, the soldiers of the battalion leave for a year of study which includes completing matriculation studies in preparation for civilian life, Torah studies, or acquiring a profession and volunteering in the community. The total length of service for the boys is about 40 months.

Dawn is a non-profit organization that works to promote democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, according to its definition. A Dawn report says that between 2015 and 2022, the battalion was involved in a number of serious incidents involving violations against Palestinian civilians, including shooting and killing unarmed civilians, torture, physical assault, beatings, and sexual assault, in violation of international law. Human rights and international humanitarian law.

The report stated: “During this period, soldiers from the unit killed three Palestinians - Iyad Zakaria Hamed (38 years old), Qasim Abbasi (16 years old), and the Palestinian-American Omar Abdel Majeed Asaad (78 years old) - in incidents in which soldiers used lethal force against... Civilians unarmed without justification.” "In almost every case, the soldiers were found to be lying or covering up events to suggest they were acting in self-defense," the report continued.

In 2022, around the time the US opened its investigation into the unit over incidents of violence against Palestinian civilians, Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article describing the battalion’s “long history of bad behaviour, driven by an ideology imbibed from the settler movement”. An Israeli defence official who had spoken to Haaretz was quoted as saying that dissolving the Netzah Yehuda “would be a declaration of war for the settler leadership”, adding that “Their view on the ground is that this battalion belongs to them, that it’s a force that works for the settlement enterprise”.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, has articulated that there is a clear ideological link between the settler communities and the soldiers serving in the battalion. “As a settler, I’m telling you that the residents are happy every time that Netzah Yehuda is deployed in their sector,” Smotrich wrote on social media.

The Times of Israel newspaper said that members of this battalion "participated in many controversial incidents of violence, and were also convicted in the past of torturing and ill-treating Palestinian prisoners and detainees." For its part, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz , which in recent years investigated several incidents in which the battalion was involved, said that the conclusion it reached was that the battalion “has become a kind of independent militia that is not subject to army rules.” The newspaper quoted a soldier from another battalion in the Israeli army that was working within the "Netzah Yehuda" battalion, that one night, soldiers affiliated with "Netzah Yehuda" asked one of the Palestinians to get out of his car, and when he did, they beat him in a "crazy" manner until he lost consciousness. The aforementioned incident occurred in April 2022, “but this time it did not end in death,” as happened with an elderly Palestinian last month, according to the same newspaper that described the battalion as “outside the army’s control.”

On 12 January 2022, members of the ultraorthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion of the IDF pulled Palestinian-American Omar Assad, age 78, from his car as he was traveling home and detained him, while applying a blindfold, gagging him, and binding his wrists, according to media reports. Assad. a US citizen, was found dead shortly after the soldiers left the scene. According to press reporting in November 2022, the military’s legal authority informed lawyers for two officers that it was preparing to indict them over misconduct in Assad’s death. As of January 2023, the IDF reportedly had conducted its own investigation of the unit and had dismissed or reassigned several commanders while transferring the entire battalion from the West Bank to the Golan Heights.

“Haaretz,” which titled its report on the battalion “ Lies, Violence, and Extremist Right-Wing Ideology ,” says that soldiers from “Netzah Yehuda” were behind the killing of Omar Abdel Majeed Asaad after members of the battalion tied his hands, gagged his mouth, and forced him to lie on his stomach in the cold. The April 2022 incident initially seemed "fairly ordinary" as soldiers said they stopped the car because they feared the driver would attempt a ramming attack.

But according to eyewitnesses, there was nothing suspicious about the way the car was driving. Moreover, half an hour after the incident, the Shin Bet Security Service, the police, and the army's Central Command ruled out an attempt to launch an attack. The soldier from the other unit said, “There were people trying to treat the Palestinian who was in bad condition due to the beating,” and then continued, “They shouted at the Netzah Yehuda paramedic to come to help, but he refused,” claiming that the victim was a terrorist, according to the newspaper. He added that the soldiers refused to even provide the water they requested to treat the Palestinian. “It was a crazy accident,” he said.

Former and current officers and soldiers who served in the battalion say it years ago set its own ethical and professional standards — and senior officers turned a blind eye to them. One of them says that they were going out on routine operations in the villages, and suddenly one of the men throws a stun grenade at a house or a passing car. “It's usually just for laughs,” the soldier from the battalion, who left the army two years ago, confirms to the newspaper. He confirms that he noticed that the battalion's soldiers were interested in constantly appearing as a different force, and that, unlike all the brigades that are replaced every few weeks, they live in this area and know very well what needs to be done. Since this soldier's demobilization, much evidence has accumulated to support his claim, says Haaretz.

Palestinians in the town of Singel, near Ramallah, reported that Netzah Yehuda soldiers smashed the windows of a house, stormed the house, and threatened the family with a gun. A source at Central Command said: “An investigation has been conducted into this incident, and the whole matter was operationally inappropriate.” He continued, "At the end of the investigation, the orders and regulations were clarified to the soldiers." The newspaper commented on this with the phrase, “But this was another incident, which sparked an investigation and clarification of the regulations without any penalties.”

A defense official recalls a Central Command meeting about two years ago after another incident involving Netzah Yehuda. According to the document that followed the meeting, “most of the combat soldiers from the battalion are from families living in the area, which makes it difficult for them to separate their personal opinions from the demands of their commanders.” The attendees asked how to address issues related to the battalion, “and one of the options was to dissolve it and place its soldiers in other units,” the Israeli newspaper confirms. “We realized very quickly that dissolving Netzah Yehuda would be tantamount to a declaration of war on the settlers,” an official said. He added: "Their point of view is that this battalion belongs to them, and that it is a force working for the benefit of the settlement project."

“No one in the army seems to dispute this,” confirms the newspaper, which quoted the same official as saying that the heads of settler commands usually come to the battalion freely and talk to the soldiers, and rabbis also come and give the soldiers lessons and talk to them about operational incidents. “It is a kind of battalion of the militia,” he said.

In the midst of the war in Gaza, Netzah Yehuda forces participated in several operations in Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza. Regarding the various controversial events, the Israeli army said that it “is working and will continue to work to investigate every unusual event in a focused manner and in accordance with the law,” according to what the Times of Israel newspaper reported. The Israeli army said that it was not aware of any US sanctions that would be imposed on its “Netzah Yehuda” battalion, explaining in a statement that if sanctions were imposed, the matter would be reviewed, according to Al Hurra’s correspondent. In the statement, the army defended this battalion, stressing that it is active in the Gaza Strip and “operates in the spirit of the Israeli army and the principles of international law.”

The IDF stated that fighters of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion are now participating in the war in the Gaza Strip, "with courage and professionalism, while maintaining the values and spirit of the IDF and the principles of international law. Over the past few years, the battalion's fighters have been at the core of operational activities around the clock, to maintain the security of the citizens of the State of Israel, alongside being a leading battalion in the integration of ultra-Orthodox fighters in the IDF. Further to the publications about sanctions against the battalion, the matter is not recognized by the IDF. If a decision is made on the matter, it will be examined. The IDF is working and will continue to work to investigate every unusual event in a factual manner and in accordance with the law."

For the first time, the administration of US President Joe Biden is expected to impose sanctions on an Israeli army unit due to human rights violations in the West Bank. It is noteworthy that since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, the United States has issued three packages of sanctions against settlers for committing acts of violence against Palestinians. The latest package was issued on Friday and included the leader of the far-right Lehava group, Benzi Gopstein, a close ally of Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli Minister of National Security.

American media reported that the State Department was preparing to impose sanctions on the “Netzah Yehuda” Battalion of the Israeli army due to human rights violations in the occupied West Bank. Barak Ravid reported in Axios that "U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to within days announce sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces "Netzah Yehuda" battalion for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, three U.S. sources with knowledge of the issue told Axios. It would be the first time the U.S. imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The sanctions will ban the battalion and its members from receiving any kind of U.S. military assistance or training, the sources said. A 1997 law authored by then-Senator Patrick Leahy prohibits U.S. foreign aid and Defense Department training programs from going to foreign security, military and police units credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations."

The Times of Israel newspaper , on Sunday, quoted two American sources as saying that the US State Department is considering imposing sanctions on other Israeli military and police units, in addition to the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion that was talked about in recent days, due to human rights violations against the Palestinians. Three informed sources confirmed to Axios that this will be the first time that the United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The sources said that the sanctions will prevent the battalion and its members from receiving any kind of American military assistance or training.

In the case of Netzah Yehuda, the Israeli newspaper said that the army decided in December 2022 to transfer the unit from the West Bank to prevent them from coming into contact with the Palestinians, but no steps were taken to hold the soldiers accountable for incidents of misconduct, according to an American official.

The Israeli newspaper indicates that the practical impact of the sanctions may be limited. A second American source said that Washington would prevent Israel from using American military aid to buy weapons for the unit, but Israel could still use its own money to buy weapons for it.

The American source expected that other Western countries would follow Washington's example in targeting units that human rights groups found to be targeting Palestinians "repeatedly and unfairly."

While much of the focus is on behavior occurring in the West Bank, the source expected that investigations will also be opened in units operating in Gaza, given videos posted on social media by IDF soldiers during the war in Gaza showing them violating the rules of conduct. Of the Israeli army, according to The Times of Israel. Sources believe that sanctions will be imposed under the Leahy Act, which was issued in 1997 and prohibits US aid from reaching security and military units that commit human rights violations.

A source indicated that the US State Department’s decision regarding the “Netzah Yehuda” Battalion is related to its behavior and incidents that occurred before October 7, centered in the West Bank, according to the “Axios” website. The Times of Israel newspaper says that members of this battalion "participated in many controversial violent incidents, and were also convicted in the past of torturing and ill-treating Palestinian prisoners and detainees."

The Israeli army said, on 21 April 2024, that it is not aware of any US sanctions that will be imposed on its “Netzah Yehuda” battalion, explaining in a statement that if sanctions are imposed, the matter will be reviewed, according to Al Hurra’s correspondent. "Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He said the intention to impose the measures as the IDF fights Hamas is the "height of absurdity and a moral low" and that his government will "act by all means against these moves."

“The Israeli army must not be punished,” with these words, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on reports indicating that Washington might impose sanctions on the “Netzech Yehuda” battalion of the Israeli army for violating human rights in the West Bank, before the start of the war in Gaza. Netanyahu pledged to work "by all means" against any possible sanctions targeting Israeli soldiers.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated in his speech to the soldiers of the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion, which is threatened by American sanctions, that no one in the world “can teach Israel morality, and that the military leadership supports them.” Galant explained in his speech to the soldiers of the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion who are on a mission in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip after talking about the possibility of imposing American sanctions on this particular battalion, saying: “The political level and the military leadership stand behind them and support them, and no one in the world can Teaching us morals and values.”

Galant added: “We are fighting on seven fronts and their soldiers... I am telling you that there will be additional missions. They could be in the south, here in the Strip, and they could be in the north. Be prepared for all activities. Take advantage of the time. You have a lot of experience, much more than "Anyone who has been in your position in the past decades." Gallant pointed out, "The entire security apparatus, the IDF and Israel support you, appreciate you and strengthen you in your work to protect Israel. The place where you are in Beit Hanoun is to protect the city of Sderot from any attack."

He said: “I want to tell you something else that comes against the backdrop of what made headlines: Mistakes happen wherever there is military activity and you should not lie, and certainly not matters related to standard matters that should not be practiced, but the fact that one or two soldiers did something that is not correct. This does not place blame on the regiment. The battalion is a fighting force that performs its function at a very high level. If there is someone with whom something happens, we take care of it. No one in the world will teach us what morals are and what customs are.”

As Gallant stated: “We are fighting against seven armies, or seven organizations at this time in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen, and also in Iran... We fight them all and stand in the breach, using all our forces, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect the citizens of this country, no matter what.” It cost... The IDF and the security establishment stand behind you in carrying out your tasks and they know that you are risking your lives in order to protect the citizens of Israel. We will adhere to our values, which are the values ??of the Jewish army in the spirit of everything our traditions teach us on the one hand, and the orders and law in Israel determine them on the other hand.”