Among the numerous executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump after his inauguration on Monday was the lifting of sanctions imposed on more than 30 Israeli settler groups and entities by the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Settler violence has long been a reality for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. But attacks and theft of Palestinian land have increased since the start of the Israeli war against Gaza.
Trump’s decision was welcomed by Israel’s far right, although it came shortly after the new president pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza, much to that faction’s anger. So, what can we learn from the lifting of sanctions, and what will Trump’s policy towards Israel and Palestine be?
What were the sanctions imposed on the settlers?
Under the sanctions, individuals and entities were denied access to all U.S. property and assets, as well as the U.S. financial system.
Who are the targets of sanctions?
Illegal Israeli settlements have been built in the West Bank since its seizure by Israel in 1967. The settlements are built on seized Palestinian land and are part of an effort by the settler movement and the Israeli government to increase control over the West Bank. Palestinians emphasize that the settlements – where they are not allowed to live – effectively make the creation of a Palestinian state impossible.
A number of people and entities have been affected by the sanctions. Among them were the settlement development organization Amana, as well as its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd, both of which were determined by U.S. officials to be among the organizations serving as coordinating bodies for the violent and extremist activities of the settlers.
Individuals, such as David Chai Chasdai, convicted in Israel of violence against Palestinians dating back more than a decade, were also included, as well as numerous settlers determined by U.S. authorities to have established outposts or settlements. illegal activities on Palestinian land, such as the Svis Farm, founded by a settler, Zvi Bar Yosef, described by anti-occupation researcher Dror Etkes, as having been responsible for the “most brutal attacks including I have never heard of settler attacks.”
However, despite the Biden administration’s hardline rhetoric, plans for sanctions against the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion over a series of alleged abuses, including the arbitrary killing and torture of Palestinian civilians, were abandoned after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly opposed it.
Why did the United States impose sanctions on the citizens of its allies
The sanctions came as the Biden administration faced pressure to use its power to stop Israel’s war on Gaza, including by suspending arms sales.
Unwilling to do so, the administration instead took several smaller steps aimed at influencing Israel’s actions and expressing its discontent, such as sanctions against certain settler groups and individuals.
In November, former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken had “repeatedly emphasized to their Israeli counterparts that Israel must do more to end violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold those responsible to account.” “.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right, pro-settlement figures, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was national security minister until last weekend, when he resigned protest against the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
In November, Ben-Gvir responded to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu by suggesting Israel annex the West Bank. Earlier that same month, in anticipation of a Trump presidency, Smotrich went further, ordering that preparations be made for the annexation of the occupied territory this year.
Have the sanctions limited the violence?
No.
Through 2024, the period during which US sanctions were imposed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded the highest number of attacks in the nearly two decades since OCHA began began documenting such incidents, noting “that approximately 4,250 Palestinians displaced 1,760 people.” destroyed structures and approximately 1,400 incidents involving Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
Tel Aviv Tribune and rights groups including Amnesty International have tracked numerous incidents of settler violence against Palestinian homes during Israel’s war on Gaza and regularly found that settler attacks were either ignored or even encouraged by the security forces under the command of Ben-Gvir.
What was the Israeli response to the lifting of sanctions?
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir celebrated Trump’s lifting of sanctions.
On social media, Ben-Gvir wrote that he welcomed “the historic decision of new US President Donald Trump to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on settlers in Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the term for the occupied West Bank. used by the Israeli government.
Finance Minister Smotrich was equally explicit, calling the sanctions “a serious and blatant foreign intervention in Israel’s internal affairs.”
I sincerely thank President Donald Trump for his righteous decision to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against settlers and activists of right-wing organizations. These sanctions constituted a serious and blatant foreign intervention in Israel’s internal affairs and… pic.twitter.com/Lp1I8oFixa
— בצלאל סמוטריץ’ (@bezalelsm) January 21, 2025
Is this a sign of what Trump’s policy towards Israel and Palestine will be?
While many in the pro-Palestinian camp credit Trump for pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, he was overwhelmingly pro-Israeli in his first term and will likely be in the next four years.
Trump has been willing to hand several victories to the Israeli right in the past, even if they ran counter to long-term US policy. For example, he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights during his first term. He also presented an initiative that would have recognized Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlement blocs in the West Bank.
Members of his current circle include Mike Huckabee, Trump’s evangelical and pro-settlement pick for US ambassador to Israel, as well as billionaire “mega-donor” Miriam Adelson, who reportedly supports annexation Israeli West Bank, suggest that Israel’s ambitions for the territory could be coming closer, said HA Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
The Trump administration also nominated Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik spoke of Israel’s “biblical right” to the West Bank and called the number of times UN votes have gone against Israel as proof of the organization’s “anti-Semitic rot.”
“Many of Trump’s choices, such as Pete Hegseth for Defense, or his new National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, suggest that we are seeing a complete abandonment of the very limited and restrained restraint that existed on Trump’s behavior. Israel,” Hellyer said.