The Biden administration on Monday announced sanctions against Israeli citizens and groups involved in extremist settler movements in the West Bank. This is part of US efforts to curb escalating violence targeting Palestinians in the region.
The sanctions are part of an executive order issued by President Biden in February to hold accountable the violence perpetrated against Palestinians by extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank and the organizations that support such violence. becomes.
“We reiterate our call on the Israeli government to take action and hold accountable those responsible and perpetrators of violence, displacement, and property dispossession,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“The United States will continue to push for accountability against those who further destabilize the situation in the West Bank and support extremist violence in the region.”
President-elect Trump, who previously supported Israeli settlements, has the authority to rescind Biden’s executive order, but it is unclear how easily sanctions against individuals and groups will be lifted.
The new sanctions include the blacklisting of settlement development organization Amana Group and construction and development subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana, with the UK and Canada also imposing sanctions on these entities. did.
“The United States remains committed to working with our allies and partners to hold accountable those who seek to promote destabilizing activities that threaten stability in the West Bank, Israel, and the broader region,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Walley. said. Adeyemo.
Specifically, the sanctions against Amana follow a letter last month from 88 Democratic members of the House and Senate to President Biden for its role in “financing new outposts and building infrastructure that is illegal under Israeli law.” They are calling for companies to be blacklisted. Agriculture fuels settler violence against Palestinian communities. ”
Lawmakers also accused Biden of encouraging and promoting settlement expansion, taking actions that undermined the Palestinian Authority, the governing body of the West Bank, and of taking actions that would undermine the escalating Palestinian Authority. He called on him to sanction “radical” Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Violence committed by Israelis against Palestinians.
But the Biden administration has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers. Other sanctions announced on Monday included those against Itamar Yehuda Levi, Shabtai Koshlewski and Zohar Sabaha.
Mr. Levi and Mr. Koshlewski were sanctioned for leading groups that provided support to sanctioned companies. Sabah is said to have “exemplified a pattern of destruction in the West Bank by intimidation and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their own homes.”
The State Department said Sabah state was “also involved in the September 2024 attack on Al Kaabneh Elementary School near Jericho, which injured several Palestinians at the school.”
As a result of the sanctions, property or interests held by the sanctioned person or entity in the United States are sealed and must be reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Sanctioned individuals are typically blocked from entering the United States, and Americans risk penalties if they are found to be doing business with sanctioned individuals or entities.
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