The U.S. State Department has decided against placing sanctions on the Israeli military despite a finding that three Israeli units had committed “gross human rights violations” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank prior to October 7. Last week, there were press reports that the Biden administration was preparing to impose sanctions on Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish battalion, but the administration has since reversed course.
In other State Department news, Reuters is reporting some senior officials within the department have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel is not using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international law. In a memo to Blinken, the officials cite the “unconscionably high levels of civilian harm” and Israel’s “killing humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate.”