Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was stopped at the last minute from sanctioning an IDF intelligence unit, according to Israel's former U.S. ambassador Michael Herzog.
(Feb. 27, 2025 / JNS) The U.S. State Department has “a great many anti-Israel staff who threw wrenches into the works” of Israel’s war machine after Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s previous ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, said in an interview published Thursday.
In the interview, parts of which were published in Israel Hayom ahead of its publication in full on Friday, Herzog said that former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had decided to implement targeted sanctions against an Israel Defense Forces intelligence unit colloquially known as Unit 504.
Focused on human intelligence and interrogations, the unit was at imminent risk of sanctions as Blinken “had already made up his mind, but we managed to stop him just in time,” said Herzog.