Residence ban, asset freeze… Biden accepts sanctions in face of ‘intolerant’ violence from Israeli settlers

Criticism of America’s ally Israel is backed up by action. The United States announced rare sanctions Thursday targeting extremist Israeli settlers blamed for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “The situation in the West Bank, particularly the high level of extremist settler violence, the forced displacement of people and villages, and the destruction of property, has reached unbearable levels and poses a serious threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel and the Middle East region,” Joe Biden wrote in a presidential order.

“These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the two-state goal of Israel and Palestine, and as such constitute a ‘threat to the national security of the United States,’” the United States president adds in the text, which grants him sanctions authority. Israel’s first ally, the United States, has for months condemned violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, calling on Israeli authorities to stop it and bring those responsible to justice.

“Israel must do more to end violence against civilians in the West Bank and demand accountability from those responsible,” reiterated US diplomacy chief Antony Blinken, who is himself due to visit the region again in the coming days. In response, Israel felt there was “no room for exceptional measures” against Israeli settlers, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Four settlers were targeted

The new US sanctions initially target four Israelis who will be banned from entering the United States and have their possible assets frozen, according to a State Department statement. Among them is David Chai Chasdai, accused of inciting riots in the Palestinian town of Huwara, south of Nablus, which led to the death of a Palestinian civilian.

Or Yinon Levi, accused of leading a group of settlers around the Meitarim outpost, attacking Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burning their fields and destroying their property. In early December, the United States already announced visa restrictions against extremist Israeli settlers, but these are the first financial sanctions.

The sanctions announcement came on the day President Biden visited Michigan, a crucial northern US state that is also the epicenter of Arab-American anger over the policies of the pro-Israel Democratic president.

The Israeli government has staunch defenders of the settlements, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Forces party. The West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has been rocked by renewed violence since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli territory. .

At least 364 Palestinians have been killed since then by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority. More than 2.9 million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank, separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory. And some 490,000 Israelis also live there, in settlements considered illegal under international law.