US Launches Review of IDF Unit Over Human Rights Allegations. The United States has initiated a review of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit that may impact U.S. assistance to Israel, according to a report from Axios, which cites two Israeli and two U.S. officials.
If the investigation finds the allegations credible and determines that Israel has not sufficiently addressed the issues, U.S. law mandates the cessation of military aid to the unit and prohibits it from participating in exercises with U.S. forces.
Several soldiers from the IDF’s Force 100 unit are currently facing charges in Israel for the sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility. The arrests in July led to riots, including break-ins at both the Sde Teiman base, where the soldiers were apprehended, and the Beit Lid base, where they were subsequently held.
Additionally, protesters disrupted a High Court of Justice hearing concerning petitions about the treatment of Palestinian terror detainees at the Sde Teiman facility.
The focus of the review is on the IDF’s ‘Force 100,’ responsible for guarding detainees from Gaza. As of now, no conclusions have been reached, as reported by a U.S. official. Several members of this unit are currently on trial in Israel for alleged sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee.
The US State Department is investigating an Israeli military unit charged with guarding Palestinian terror detainees, on suspicions that the unit has committed human rights violations.
If the State Department concludes that the allegations are true, and that Israel has not adequately addressed the violations, the US is obligated under American law to cease providing military aid to the unit and prevent it from participating in exercises with US troops.
Several soldiers in the IDF’s Force 100 unit are already in Israel of facing charges sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
The July arrests of the soldiers accused of participating in the alleged assault prompted riots, including break-ins, at the Sde Teiman base where the soldiers were arrested, as well as the Beit Lid base, where the soldiers were then taken and held.
Protesters also disrupted a High Court of Justice hearing regarding petitions against the treatment of Palestinian terror detainees at the Sde Teiman facility.
Prominent activists, including lawmakers, some of whom are part of the government, participated in the riots.
Right-wing Israelis demonstrate next to the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheba, against the detention of military reservists suspected of abusing a Palestinian terror suspect, July 29, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Sde Teiman has been used to house terror operatives who allegedly participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, as well as Palestinian suspects detained over the course of the subsequent war in Gaza.
The facility has faced serious allegations of human rights violations, and Israel has transferred almost all of those initially held there to other facilities. The High Court declined, however, to order the detention center closed, as several rights groups petitioned it to.
If the US State Department finds Force 100 responsible for human rights violations, the unit could be blacklisted under the 1997 “Leahy Law,” which forbids the US from providing military aid to foreign security, military, or police units that have violated human rights.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry last week, with a list of questions about the unit and its alleged crimes, Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials.
