From the NYT.
Israel Pulls Battalion From West Bank After Soldier Talks of ‘Revenge’
While detaining a CNN crew, a soldier said that Israeli troops were motivated by “revenge” against Palestinians and that all of the West Bank was “for the Jews.”
Qawasma/Reuters
David M. Halbfinger
By David M. Halbfinger
Reporting from Jerusalem
The Israeli military has suspended a battalion of reservists from active duty in the occupied West Bank after soldiers there detained a team of CNN journalists and one of the soldiers said on camera that the troops were carrying out “revenge” against Palestinians.
A CNN cameraman was put in a chokehold and he and several colleagues were detained for about two hours, the network reported last week, as they documented the establishment of an illegal outpost of Israeli settlers in Tayasir, a Palestinian village northeast of Nablus.
During the journalists’ detention on Thursday, one of the soldiers was recorded on video saying that the entire West Bank was “for the Jews.” He said that the soldiers’ motivation was “revenge” for the killing of an Israeli teenager in a collision with a car driven by a Palestinian on March 21.
In a statement on Monday, the Israeli military said that the soldier’s entire reserve battalion was being pulled from the field for additional training.
Soldiers were required to “maintain composure, statesmanship and respect for the uniform they wear and the military they represent,” it said.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the army’s chief of staff, called the episode a “grave ethical incident.”
“We all swore the soldier’s oath upon enlistment,” he said in the statement. “Weapons are to be used solely for the purpose of carrying out the mission, and never for revenge.”
The military also said that it had apologized to the CNN journalists.
The suspended battalion is composed largely of veterans of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a unit established for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men whose strict religious observance demands that men and women be separated.
Netzah Yehuda’s soldiers have been accused of abusing Palestinians. It was singled out for possible sanctions in 2024 by the United States under the so-called Leahy Law, which bans foreign military units accused of human rights violations from receiving U.S. aid or training. The Biden administration, in the end, declined to suspend aid to the battalion.
One of the most egregious episodes attributed to the battalion involved the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American who was detained, gagged and handcuffed by members of the unit in a raid on his village in 2022.
An autopsy showed that the man had died from a stress-induced heart attack brought on by injuries he sustained while he was detained. An investigation by the Israeli military’s justice system found fault with the conduct of the soldiers involved. The Israeli military disciplined three commanders, but no criminal charges were brought.
In the statement on Monday, General Zamir said that the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, including the battalion of reservists, “is dear and important to us, and we have invested significantly in strengthening it.” But he added that there was no place in the military for “unethical norms,” adding that “we will not compromise on this.”