The United States has imposed sanctions on a group of Israeli settlers and a civilian security guard in the occupied West Bank, amid escalating violence against Palestinians in the territory.
Wednesday’s sanctions targeted Hashomer Yosh, which describes itself as a volunteer organization aimed at “protecting” Israeli farmers in the West Bank, and Yitzhak Levi Filant, the civil security coordinator for the Yitzhar settlement, south of Nablus.
“Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, undermines Israel’s security, and undermines prospects for peace and stability in the region,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
“It is essential that the Israeli government hold accountable the individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank.”
According to the report, Hashomer Yosh fenced off the Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta earlier this year, preventing its displaced residents from returning to their homes.
Several Israeli media outlets reported that Hashomer Yosh received financial support from the Israeli government.
Washington also accused Filant of engaging in malicious activities, including setting up roadblocks and conducting patrols earlier this year “to pursue and attack Palestinians on their lands and forcibly expel them.”
The sanctions freeze Filant and Hashomer Yosh’s assets in the United States and prohibit American citizens from conducting financial transactions with them.
For years, Hashomer Yosh has been able to raise money in the United States, including through JGive, a website that collects donations for groups that the Israeli government certifies as charities.
Hashomer Yosh’s page on JGive appeared to have been deactivated on Wednesday. The site did not immediately respond to Tel Aviv Tribune’s request for comment.
The measures announced Wednesday come a day after a settler attack killed one Palestinian and wounded three others near Bethlehem. Earlier in August, violent settlers also ravaged the northern West Bank village of Jit, killing a 23-year-old man.
The Jit rampage sparked international outrage and even verbal condemnation from Israeli officials. But Israel rarely prosecutes settlers for violence against Palestinians.
Moreover, Palestinian rights advocates say settler attacks occur under the watchful eye of – or even the cooperation of – Israeli soldiers in the area.
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a US-based human rights group that had previously called for sanctions against Filant, welcomed Wednesday’s measures and called for sanctions against Israeli officials involved in settler violence.
“Targeting Yitzhar’s infamous security guard Filant is an important step in recognizing the institutional and state-sponsored nature of settler violence,” Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, DAWN’s Israel-Palestine research director, said in a statement.
“Sanctions will never end settler violence unless they begin to target state institutions and politicians who treat settlers as a tool of their expansionist policies.”
Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar said the US sanctions are “too weak and perhaps too late.”
Eldar blamed far-right elements in the Israeli government, which he compared to ISIS, for enabling the settler violence.
“There are Jewish supremacists sitting in cabinet meetings and what they want is chaos. They are not afraid of the international community,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
This year, the United States and some of its Western allies have sanctioned several violent settlers they label “extremists.”
But President Joe Biden’s administration has maintained its staunch support for Israel. Washington, which backs the Israeli military’s war in Gaza and its deadly raids in the West Bank, authorized a $20 billion arms deal with Israel earlier this month.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military launched a major offensive in the West Bank that left at least 10 people dead.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on Wednesday for the “temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians” in the West Bank to allow for the military operation, sparking fears that Israel could plan mass displacement orders in the territory.
The vast majority of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal. The establishment of settlements in the area captured by Israel in 1967 violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The Biden administration says the settlements are “incompatible with international law.”