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The US has imposed new sanctions on an Israeli settler group and four unauthorised outposts in the West Bank, in the latest effort by the Joe Biden administration to confront land grab and instability in occupied Palestinian territories.
The sanctions target Lehava, an umbrella group for Israeli settlers sanctioned by the UK, and members of Tsasv9, a group that blocked aid from reaching the starving Palestinians in Gaza.
The sanctions also hit four illegal Israeli settler outposts that have been "weaponised" for “violence to displace Palestinians” by disrupting their grazing lands, limiting access to wells and conducting attacks on the residents.
One of the outposts is a farm owned by Isaschar Manne.
"It was established on pastureland belonging to the Palestinian community,” the State Department said, “and settlers from this outpost regularly attack community shepherds and prevent their access to the pastureland through acts of violence.”
It described Lehava, which has over 10,000 members, as the “largest violent extremist organisation in Israel”.
“The United States remains deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday.
“We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable. In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”
Sanctions by the Biden administration against Israeli settlers have upset members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. They support the expansion of Jewish settlements to ultimately annex the West Bank, making a Palestinian state unviable.
The Israelis targeted by the latest sanctions include Lehava founder Ben-Zion Gopstein, a close associate of Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who himself lives in a West Bank settlement.
The sanctions include an updated red flag alert that will warn financial institutions about potential “suspicious activity”. America’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will raise an alert in case a sanctioned individual or an entity tries to circumvent the controls.
Human Rights Watch, which has campaigned to highlight settler violence in the West Bank, welcomed the US measures as the most far-reaching to date.
The rights group, however, called for direct action against the Israeli government for its support of the settlers.
“In this case we are pleased that the Biden administration is going farther than before with the alert,” Sarah Yager, Washington director of the Human Rights Watch, said. “Now it’s time for sanctions against the Israeli authorities that are approving and inciting. We want to see the US, UK, Canada and others focus on power behind all this in the West Bank.”
All settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, while outposts, a subset of the settlements, are considered illegal even under Israeli law.
According to the activist group Peace Now, there are about 200 outposts scattered throughout the West Bank.
