Leahy Law Requires Ban on Aid to Israeli Police Unit

Video has emerged of two Palestinian men surrendering to the Israeli military with their hands up, before being shot dead in Jenin. (screenshot)

The Leahy Law requires ban on US military aid to Israeli border police’s Yamas Unit for the extrajudicial killings of two Palestinians who surrendered – a Gross Violation of Human Rights

Reposted from DAWN, December 23, 2025

The U.S. State Department should enforce the Leahy Law to sanction the Israeli Border Police’s Yamas unit and prohibit them from further U.S. military aid for their role in gross violations of human rights, said DAWN today.

“We are providing the State Department with ample evidence that legally requires only one outcome: sanctioning U.S. funded Israeli units responsible for gross abuses, in this case the grotesque execution of two captive Palestinian men, in broad daylight,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director at DAWN. “Secretary Rubio fails in his duty to the American people by ignoring our own laws to shield Israeli criminals from accountability.”

In a submission to the State Department, the organization detailed the Yamas unit’s role in the extrajudicial killing of two unarmed Palestinians who had surrendered and were in its effective custody on November 26, 2025, in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. During the raid in Jenin, officers from the Yamas unit surrounded a building where they believed two wanted were hiding.

The two men, Yousef Asasa (37) and Al-Muntasir Billah Abdullah (26), eventually exited the building with their hands up, lifted their shifts to show they were unarmed, and knelt as Border Police officers surrounded them with weapons drawn. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Border Police officers begin kicking Asasa and Abdullah and order them to move back toward the building from which they exited moments earlier. The Yamas unit officers then opened fire, killing both men from mere feet away.

“The video evidence of these extrajudicial killings is irrefutable,” said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, Israel-Palestine director at DAWN. “Israeli Minister Ben Gvir, who is in charge of this unit, publicly praised the killers and promoted their commander, evaporating any pretense that Israel will bring those responsible to justice.”

Neither of the men, whom Israeli officers had already verified were unarmed, appeared to pose a threat to the Israeli forces and appear to be in their effective custody and control. A day later, a spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described the “brazen killing” as “an apparent summary execution.”

Responding to the footage of the killings, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Police, including its Border Police and the Yamas unit, wrote on X: “The [officers] acted exactly as they are expected to — terrorists must die!” A day after the killing of Asasa and Abdullah, Ben Gvir traveled personally to the Yamas unit’s base and announced that he was promoting its commander, identified only by his first initial, “K.”

Background on the Israeli Border Police’s Yamas Unit

The “Yamas” unit of the Israeli Border Police is a special forces unit that typically operates in the occupied West Bank, Palestine under the command of the IDF’s Central Command, although its members are civilian officers of the Israel (National) Police. The unit, whose name is an acronym for a phrase loosely translated from Hebrew as “Disguised as Arabs Unit,” is known for undercover operations. It also regularly conducts uniformed operations alongside regular IDF units and the Israel Security Agency (“Shin Bet”).

The Leahy law prohibits U.S. assistance to a foreign security force unit when there is “credible information” that it has committed gross violations of human rights and the government has failed to remediate the unit. In a State Department manual for Leahy vetting, extrajudicial killing is listed as one of the four most common types of GVHRs, alongside torture, forced disappearance, and rape under the color of the law.

The manual defines extrajudicial killing as: “A deliberate killing of an individual, carried out under color of law, and not authorized by a previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court after a trial affording all requisite fair trial and appeal guarantees.”

“The Leahy Law places the burden squarely on the Israeli government to demonstrate it is taking real and effective steps to end these abuses and punish those responsible—a burden Israel has never come close to meeting,” said Whitson. “Every dollar of U.S. assistance that flows to Israeli units committing such brazen atrocities makes every American taxpayer complicit in countless gross human rights violations.”

The UN rights chief’s spokesperson, Jeremy Laurence, said Ben Gvir’s response, “[raises] serious concerns about the credibility of any future review or investigation conducted by any entity that is not fully independent from the Government.”

The State Department Has Failed to Enforce the Leahy Law Against Israel

Despite extensive documentation of Israeli forces committing gross human rights violations from credible sources, including the State Department’s own Annual Human Rights Reports, the State Department has never prohibited a single Israeli unit from receiving assistance.

A federal lawsuit recently filed with the assistance of DAWN seeks to compel the State Department to obey the Leahy Law with respect to Israel. Were the State Department to faithfully and fully enforce the Leahy Law with respect to Israel, the lawsuit asserts, many, if not most Israeli security forces units would be found ineligible for U.S. military assistance in light of the vast scale of abuses and the Israeli government’s failure to take appropriate steps for remediation.

“The Leahy Law is unambiguous and its implementation is not optional, like so many other restrictions on arms transfers and foreign military aid,” said Charles Blaha, senior advisor at DAWN who spent over 30 years in the State Department. “Secretary Rubio should not ignore this horrific evidence of summary executions by Israeli forces using American weapons and a government minister celebrating the killers.”

According to the Washington Post, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General recently found that Israeli security forces have committed “many hundreds” of potential grave violations of human rights. The number of incidents is so great that it would take “multiple years” to review them for potential Leahy Law sanctions, according to the report.

The State Department should enforce the Leahy Law and prohibit the Israeli Border Police’s Yamas unit from receiving assistance, given the credible evidence of the extrajudicial killings of Asasa and Abdullah.

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