00:00Yeah, a follow-up on that.
00:03So these sanctions against – it's a visa ban against Elor Azaria.
00:11Does that sort of imply that he hasn't had – that his treatment – the treatment
00:17of his case by the Israeli authorities was not fully in line with the standards of justice
00:23that the U.S. would like to see?
00:25So we have made clear – let me speak to it generally first and I'll speak with respect
00:28to his case.
00:29We have made clear that we want to see appropriate accountability for those involved in violations
00:35of human rights in the West Bank, those involved in actions that – of violence that threaten
00:41Palestinians or actions that threaten Israelis.
00:46With respect to this particular statute under which he was designated, we are actually required
00:53to impose visa restrictions if we find a violation of gross – if we find a gross
00:59violation of human rights.
01:01So I think there are people who will – obviously, there was an action that the IDF took against
01:06him, right?
01:07He did serve time.
01:08I think people can appropriately question whether that was the right amount of time
01:11or not.
01:13But we are actually, separate and apart from that analysis, when we find a gross violation
01:17of human rights by a government official – and we did find a gross violation of human rights
01:22by this official – we are required to impose this measure whether or not the Government
01:30of Israel has taken its own accountability measures.
01:31Right.
01:32And so this was one of the cases that was involved in earlier this year, the Leahy determinations
01:38that you guys made, according to the memo of justification that the organization DAWN
01:43obtained and posted online.
01:46It includes a discussion – it's a State Department document, but it includes a discussion
01:52of the case and says the Secretary of State determined that the Government of Israel
01:55is taking effective steps to bring justice – bring to justice the responsible member.
02:00So they're specifically talking about this case, but isn't there a – isn't there
02:04like a mixed message here if you're also saying we're – and this is eight years
02:10after the fact, but we're taking this action against this individual, but you're also
02:18saying justice has been done in this case?
02:22So as I just noted, whether you believe the steps that they have taken are appropriate
02:26or not – and we did find that those steps were appropriate for remediation under those
02:31– under the provisions required by the Leahy law when it comes to continuing to provide
02:37training and assistance to that unit.
02:39Separate and apart from that analysis, whether you believe that appropriate remediation measures
02:44or appropriate accountability measures have been taken or not, if we find a gross violation
02:48of human rights – and we did here – we are required to impose this visa restriction.
02:53So that's what we have done.
02:54Right.
02:55But I guess people would say – people would look at this and say, well, you're imposing
03:00a sanction on the individual, but the institution that he's part of – the whole point of
03:05the Leahy law is to stop U.S. assistance going – weapons and assistance going to units
03:14that are involved in human rights violations.
03:16In this case, you've determined that this unit – this was a gross violation of human
03:20rights.
03:21I think he ended up serving nine months in prison.
03:24As you said, that's debatable.
03:25But isn't there a question here over whether you're really following the spirit of the
03:32Leahy law where this unit is still able to receive U.S. weapons?
03:36So the purpose of the Leahy law – it's not just – I think that misstates the purpose
03:40of the Leahy law.
03:41It's not in every instance to just suspend military assistance.
03:46What we are trying to do, what the Leahy law exists to do, is to incentivize foreign
03:50governments to take corrective measures when units commit violations of human rights.
03:56So it's – that's why the Leahy law has written into it, if you find a violation of
04:00human rights by a unit, military assistance isn't immediately suspended.
04:04You have to look and see whether they've taken appropriate accountability measures
04:08and appropriate remediation measures, because we want governments to do that.
04:12And I think it's true about every military in the world that there are times in conflict
04:16where you're going to have individual soldiers and individual units who act outside the code
04:21of conduct of that unit or potentially act outside the laws of war, and you judge the
04:25country by whether they have a system that corrects for those violations and holds people
04:29accountable.
04:30And that's what the Leahy law is trying to incentivize.
04:33So do you think that someone who's been found guilty of extrajudicially killing an
04:40unarmed Palestinian, given everything you've said about the need for action to be taken
04:47on to make sure stability is maintained in the West Bank – this is a very sort of febrile
04:56atmosphere there – cases like this have contributed massively to that instability.
05:04So the institution that we're talking about has basically concluded that that crime needed
05:10a nine-month jail sentence, and that's sort of – that's sufficient.
05:14Does that – do you agree that that's sufficient?
05:17So I'm going to answer that in a – rather than weigh in on one specific sentence, which
05:24ultimately that is a question for the Israeli legal system, I'm going to say that on behalf
05:30of the United States, we look at it broadly and say that when you look at across the West
05:33Bank the amount of violence that has been carried out against Palestinian civilians,
05:38there hasn't been appropriate accountability across the board.
05:41And so that's why we have, number one, called on Israel to take additional measures to hold
05:46those responsible for violence accountable, and it is why we have announced these two
05:50policies that I outlined at the top of the briefing – the new visa restriction policy
05:55that the Secretary outlined in December and the executive order that the President put
05:58into place in February.
06:00And under that authority – under those two authorities, we now have the ability to impose
06:04financial sanctions, and we have done that on 22 individuals and entities, and we have
06:08the ability to impose visa restrictions, which we have done in dozens of cases.
06:13So we are going to continue to call on Israel to do more across the board.
06:17I think it's important that it not – this isn't about – this broadly is not about
06:21any one isolated case of violence.
06:25This is about a broad trend of increased violence that we have sadly seen over the past months
06:30and the need for Israel to do more to hold people accountable for it, and that's why
06:34we are taking the steps of our own.
06:35But you had the opportunity in this case – there is a detailed case here that you've named
06:40this individual in a press release.
06:42I'm not sure whether you were required to do that, but it's quite clear in this case
06:46when it comes to – with reference to the Leahy law, when it comes to the question of
06:51whether to restrict weapons to the Israeli military, you're willing to take these steps
06:56up to that point, and then at that point, you're not willing to.
07:00Because we just look at the facts as they're applied, and we – and our determination
07:03was that with respect to this particular incident that the unit had appropriately imposed
07:10accountability measures, and because of that remained eligible for assistance under the
07:16Leahy law.
07:17That doesn't change the fact that we felt it appropriate and are in fact required to
07:21oppose this visa restriction today, and that broadly across the board we haven't seen
07:24enough accountability, and that's why we're taking other steps.
07:26Go ahead.
07:27QUESTION.
07:28Could you correct me if I'm wrong?
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