Joe Biden imposes sanctions on Israeli settlers

The US President says violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank has reached intolerable levels.

Palestinian supporters protest outside while Joe Biden speaks to members of the United Auto Workers in Warren, Michigan, on Thursday. Picture: AFP

The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on four Israeli settlers as President Joe Biden said violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank had reached intolerable levels.

The sanctions marked a rare US move against Israelis as war rages with Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the militants’ October 7 attack. It came as Mr Biden visited Michigan, where many in the sizeable Arab American community have voiced anger over his support for Israel.

“The situation in the West Bank – in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction – has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and stability,” Mr Biden said in an executive order.

The State Department later announced sanctions against four settlers. Any assets they hold in the US will be blocked, with Americans forbidden from financial transactions with them.

The four include David Chai Chasdai, who is accused of leading a riot in the flashpoint town of Huwara in which Palestinian homes were torched and a Palestinian civilian killed following an attack that killed two Israelis. Other targets included Yinon Levi, who is accused of leading a group of settlers from the unauthorised outpost of Meitarim Farm who have assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and ­destroyed their property.

“Israel must do more to stop ­violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold accountable those responsible for it,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has repeatedly raised settler violence with Israel and leaves shortly on a new trip to the region.

Mr Blinken warned against actions that jeopardise the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, an idea that is strongly opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government which includes settler advocates.

Israel criticised the sanctions by its close ally, saying the “overwhelming majority” of its citizens in the West Bank were law-abiding. “Israel acts against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere; therefore, exceptional measures are unnecessary,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel had prosecuted three of the four settlers but that more action was needed. “We will not hesitate to take additional actions as necessary,” he said.

The action marks the first ­financial sanctions against settlers although the Biden administration earlier announced that it would refuse visas for extremists involved in violence.

Mr Biden has defended Israel’s right to respond, and resisted calls to seek a ceasefire, after the Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7 killed around 1200 people, mostly civilians. The US President, however, has also voiced exasperation with Mr Netanyahu and the high toll on civilians as Israel pounds the Gaza Strip with a stated goal of eradicating Hamas. At least 26,900 people in Gaza, have been killed, according to Hamas-run health ministry.

Arab Americans largely backed Mr Biden as he defeated Mr Trump in 2020 and, while a small part of the national population, they could swing the election in Michigan, which is critical for the Democrat President’s success in an expected rematch against Mr Trump in November.

Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the disputed West Bank last year, making it the “most violent” year on record for settler ­attacks, according to the human rights group Yesh Din.

About 490,000 settlers live among approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank.

Mr Biden has largely returned to historic US opposition to the settlements after Mr Trump switched gears and declined to criticise the outposts, with his secretary of state Mike Pompeo visiting a settlement late in his term. The Biden administration is also renewing calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, an idea strongly opposed by Mr Netanyahu’s government.

AFP