A week ago, Iran launched an airstrike on Israel, after which Israel originally intended to launch a larger-scale attack on Iran, but ultimately chose to scale back in order to avoid war. Recently, it was reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is ready to announce sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank. This will be the first time that the United States has imposed sanctions on Israeli military forces. At the same time, the head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on the 22nd in response to Hamas's attack on October 7 last year, becoming the first senior Israeli official to step down because he failed to foresee or respond quickly to the October 7 attack.
Israel scales back its strikes against Iran
Some officials told The New York Times on condition of anonymity that Israeli leaders initially discussed bombing several military targets across Iran last week in retaliation for Iran's April 13 attack on Israel. Such a devastating attack could provoke a forceful Iranian counterattack that could push the Middle East to the brink of an even more serious conflict. In the end, at the urging of US President Joe Biden, the British Foreign Secretary and the German Foreign Minister, Israel opted for a limited strike on April 19 local time, reducing the likelihood of escalation of the conflict.
However, Israeli officials believe that the attack nevertheless demonstrated to Iran the breadth and sophistication of Israel's arsenal. Officials with knowledge of the attack said Israel did not send fighter jets into Iranian airspace, but instead fired a small number of missiles at planes hundreds of miles west of Iran. It is known that Israel also used small attack drones to confuse Iranian air defenses. Iran's military facilities have been repeatedly attacked by such drones in recent years, and Iran says it does not know where the drones came from — a claim that has been interpreted as Iran's reluctance to respond.
Iranian facilities that were attacked.
According to the report, one Israeli missile hit the air defense system of a strategically important area in central Iran, and the other missile exploded in mid-air. An Israeli official said that after the first missile hit the target, the Israeli Air Force deliberately destroyed the second missile so as not to cause more damage. A Western official said it was possible that the missile had simply malfunctioned.
Officials said the Israeli attack was intended to get Iran to stop its counterattack and at the same time to show that Israel could strike at Iran without entering Iranian airspace or even triggering its air defenses. Israel also wants to show that it can strike air defenses in central Iran, where there are several major nuclear facilities, including the uranium enrichment base in Natanz.
The United States plans to impose sanctions on the IDF
On the 20th of this month, the American media Axios, citing three sources, said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF Netzah Yehuda in the coming days. The sanctions would prohibit the battalion and its members from receiving any form of U.S. military assistance or training. A U.S. official said Blinken's sanctions against Camp Nezayehuda were based on events that preceded Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks, all of which took place in the West Bank.
The Nezayehuda battalion was sanctioned.
The Nezayehuda Battalion is a special force of ultra-Orthodox members of the Jewish community. All of its members are male. Over the years, this unit, stationed in the West Bank, has become a "holy place" for many right-wing radical settler soldiers. The U.S. State Department reportedly began an investigation into Camp Nezayehuda in late 2022 for its soldiers participating in multiple incidents of violence against Palestinian civilians. One of the most notable incidents occurred in January 2022, when 80-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad died after being detained by soldiers from the Nezayhuda battalion. He was handcuffed, blindfolded, and abandoned outdoors in sub-zero degrees Celsius for hours before dying. In January 2023, the Nezayehuda battalion was redeployed to the Golan Heights. Reports at the time said the decision was due to the use of violence by the battalion's soldiers against Palestinian civilians in a number of incidents.
In 1997, then-U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy enacted a law prohibiting the U.S. from providing assistance or training programs to foreign security, military, and police forces accused of human rights violations. A U.S. State Department task force that investigated allegations of human rights abuses by the Israeli military based on Raisifa recommended months ago that Blinken disqualify several Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid. At a press conference in Italy on the 19th, Blinken said that he had made a decision based on the panel's investigation, and "you can expect to see these decisions in the coming days."
Assad's funeral.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the incident on the social media platform X on the 20th, saying: "Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces. He argued that the imposition of these measures under war was "absurd and morally low" and that the Israeli government would "use all means to oppose these actions."
The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned
On October 7 last year, Hamas militants breached Israel's borders, killing 1,200 people, including 300 soldiers, and abducting about 250 people within hours. The attack sparked a war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its seventh month.
"The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill our mission. Since then, I have carried that black day and night. I will live forever in the terrible agony of war. Aharon Haliva, the head of Israel's military intelligence, said in a letter of resignation to the military.
Israeli investigators said in November that Hamas had been planning the attack for more than a year, drawing up operational plans based on publicly available information and repeatedly rehearsing its troops. According to Israel's public broadcasting network, Haliwa received a detailed briefing in May 2022 on the findings of a large-scale attack by Hamas. On the day of the attack, intelligence monitors detected that Hamas had activated Israel's SIM card, so they made a situation assessment call with the chief of military staff. According to Israeli media reports, Haliwa was on vacation in southern Israel at the time and did not participate in the call.
Haliwa
Khaliwa publicly took responsibility for intelligence failures 10 days after the attack. In November, he announced that he would step down as soon as the fighting in Gaza allowed, and reportedly told his colleagues that his "days were running out." Until a successor is found, Haliwa will remain in the post for a while.
Haliwa's decision could set the stage for the resignation of more senior Israeli officials. Netanyahu's approval ratings are plummeting, and people are angry that he failed to stop the attack. Many Israelis have called on him to either resign immediately or after the war is over. As the fighting in Gaza eases, a majority of Israelis say it's time for those responsible to step down, according to a survey released last week by the Israel Democracy Institute.
"With power comes heavy responsibility," opposition leader Yair Lapid posted on X on the 22nd, praising Haliwa's resignation as "reasonable and honorable" and noting that "Prime Minister Netanyahu should do the same."
News sources: The New York Times, Axios, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and some of the pictures are from the Internet
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