President Biden issued an executive order Thursday punishing Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, acting after critics said he hasn’t been tough enough on the settler movement that has complicated peace efforts amid the raging war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The order, which is the strongest step Mr. Biden has taken against Israelis, imposes sanctions on four people the administration says engaged in violence that has killed or displaced Palestinians from their land in the West Bank.
Those sanctioned include individuals whose actions have led to the death of a Palestine civilian, set buildings on fire, caused property damage, assaulted Palestinian farmers and carried out attacks with stones that caused injuries, officials said. The sanctioned individuals who have tried to break windows and damage passing vehicles.
White House officials said the four individuals were sanctioned based on “credible” information that links them to violence in the West Bank. That includes court records, convictions, public records and confirmed news articles.
An administration official said more sanctions will be issued in the future.
Individuals targeted under the sanctions will be blocked from obtaining a visa to enter the U.S. and prohibited from financial deals with U.S. companies and banks. Any assets being held in the U.S. will be frozen under the executive order. Americans are prohibited from contributing money, goods or services to those who are sanctioned.
The State Department listed the four sanctioned settlers later Thursday. U.S. officials said only individuals with “credible information” that they engaged in West Bank violence would be targeted by the order, information gleaned from public reporting, court documents and intelligence reports.
Settler Yinon Levi, for example, was named in Thursday’s order for reportedly leading groups of Israeli residents from the Meitarim Farm outpost who attacked local Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, urged them to leave their homes and targeted their farmland and property, according to a State Department fact sheet.
“This is an important step to directly address the threats to U.S. national security and regional security arising from extremist violence in the West Bank and underscores the extent to which the administration takes this threat seriously,” an administration official told reporters.
Officials said the administration had notified the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Mr. Biden’s issuing the order. Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing governing coalition includes several figures with close ties to the Israeli settler movement.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office in a statement criticized the White House move as unnecessary.
“The vast majority of residents of Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting right now in active and reserve duty to protect Israel,” the statement from the prime minister’s office said. “Israel acts against all violators of the law in all places and therefore there is no place for drastic steps on this matter.”
State Department spokesman Matt Miller told reporters that Israeli government interventions had led to a reduction in settler violence in recent days, but that the problem of settler violence and intimidation remained.
“We have seen them take some steps to rein in settler violence, but we don’t think those steps have been sufficient,” Mr. Miller said.
The order comes as Mr. Biden faces increased pressure, including from fellow Democrats, to take a tougher stance against Israel as civilian casualties mount in the Gaza operation. They say Israel’s military assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is disproportionate to the Hamas’ terrorist rampage on Oct. 7 and has sparked a massive humanitarian crisis.
Palestinian health officials say over 26,000 people have been killed in Israel’s Gaza campaign in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks, a figure that cannot be independently confirmed. Mr. Biden is increasingly heckled at public events by pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupt his speeches with chants of “Genocide Joe” and “Cease-fire now.”
The order was issued the same day Mr. Biden was traveling to Michigan, a battleground state that is home to a large population of Arab Americans who are furious with his strong support for Israel, which argued a cease-fire now would allow Hamas to regroup and rearm and that the fighting will not stop until more than 100 hostages still in the militants’ hands are freed.
Mr. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, but the state has more than 242,000 Muslim voters, according to the U.S Religion Census. That could make a repeat victory in Michigan a challenge in 2024.
Although administration officials say the executive order also applies to Palestinians who engage in violence, the focus will be on the far-right Israeli settler movement.
For years, Israelis in the West Bank have staged attacks on the roughly 3 million Palestinians in the territory, often aiming to seize territory from them. Those attacks have sharply increased since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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