American Senator Patrick Leahy is pushing for a bill that will halt U.S. assistance to three elite Israeli army units because of alleged human rights violations. Leahy, a Democrat and a senior member of the U.S. Senate wants the American government to stop sending assistance to the Israel Navy's elite Shayetet 13 (Navy Seals) , the Ground Forces special undercover Duvdevan unit and the Air Force's commando Shaldag unit. Head of the Senate Appropriations Committee's sub-committee on foreign operations, Leahy was one of the main initiators of a 1997 bill barring the U.S. from providing military assistance or funding to foreign military units suspected of human rights violations or war crimes. He wants the new bill to place restrictions on military assistance to Israel, specifically the three army units, to become part of the U.S. foreign assistance legislation for 2012.
