Washington DC – The United States has imposed sanctions on several Israeli settlers for attacking Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, accusing them of undermining stability and security in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Thursday’s announcement comes amid growing pressure on President Joe Biden over his unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza as he campaigns for re-election in November.
The sanctions target David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil and Yinon Levi, accused of attacking and intimidating Palestinians. They also target Shalom Zickerman, accused of attacking Israeli activists.
The sanctions will freeze individuals’ assets in the United States and restrict financial transactions with them.
Earlier, Axios reported that the Biden administration considered sanctioning ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, but decided against it.
“There are no plans to impose sanctions on Israeli government officials at this time,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday, adding that the U.S. had informed the Israeli government before announcing the sanctions.
The White House also announced a new executive order aimed at penalizing perpetrators of “extremist settler violence” in the West Bank.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement that settler violence “poses a grave threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East region.” , and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. States.”
The executive order coincides with Biden’s visit Thursday to Michigan, a swing state in the Midwest that is home to a large Arab American community.
Netanyahu responds
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to reject the US decision, saying the overwhelming majority of West Bank settlers are “law-abiding citizens”.
“Israel takes action against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere; therefore, exceptional measures are not necessary,” his office said in a statement.
Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Charles Stratford quoted Palestinians as saying that Israeli authorities do not hold settlers responsible for their attacks.
“In many, many incidents, we see settlers acting with either the tacit support or the actual physical support of the Israeli military in these attacks,” Stratford said.
The announcement comes as the Biden administration continues to push for $14 billion in additional aid to the Israeli government, whose forces often accompany and protect settlers during their attacks on Palestinians.
Israeli authorities rarely prosecute suspects of violence against Palestinians. Last month, Israeli settlers and an off-duty police officer shot and killed Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian American, in the West Bank, according to his family.
The Biden administration has called for an investigation into the matter, but Israeli authorities have made no arrests in the killing of the American teenager.
Raids by Israeli settlers and soldiers on towns and villages in the West Bank have increased since the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
“This (executive order) will allow the United States to impose financial sanctions against those who direct or participate in certain actions, including acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidate civilians into leaving their homes, destroy or seize property, or engage in terrorist activities in the West Bank,” Sullivan said.
In the same statement, the US national security adviser stressed Washington’s support for what he called “Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Despite growing calls for a global ceasefire and growing evidence of Israeli abuses, the Biden administration has maintained its support for the war on Gaza, arguing that Hamas must be eliminated.
Washington says it has initiated discussions with Israel to minimize civilian casualties and authorize more aid to Gaza. But Biden has so far resisted calls to use his administration’s aid to Israel as leverage to pressure the U.S. ally to end violations of Palestinian rights.
Israeli leaders – including Netanyahu – have openly defied the Biden administration by openly rejecting the creation of a Palestinian state.
“It’s good that Biden is imposing targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians,” human rights activist Kenneth Roth wrote in a social media post.
“Now how about conditioning (or stopping) military aid and arms sales to Israel until it stops bombing and besieging Palestinian civilians in Gaza? »
CAIR calls for targeting Israeli officials
The Council on American Islam Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, also downplayed the sanctions, saying Biden should penalize Israeli officials responsible for settler violence and end U.S. support for the war on Gaza.
“It makes no sense that the Biden administration opposes the killing of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank while allowing the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” CAIR said in a statement.
For his part, Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Committee Against Discrimination (ADC), called the sanctions “empty,” saying they are far from revolutionary.
Ayoub said the White House views sanctions as a “safe way” to please some voters unhappy with Biden’s support for the war on Gaza.
“That’s the intention of all this. That’s why it was released today during Biden’s trip to Michigan,” Ayoub told Tel Aviv Tribune.
He added that targeting a few individual settlers risked normalizing the broader settlement movement and called for tougher measures to ensure accountability.
“We know that many of these settlers are American. Open the civil and criminal liability of these settlers in the United States,” he said.