US imposes sanctions on settlers over attacks on Palestinians, Israel reacts

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a handful of extremist Jewish settlers over violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, in a rare step against Israelis as war rages with Hamas, officials said.

President Joe Biden was also issuing an executive order laying out the groundwork for actions over attacks and “acts of terrorism” in the West Bank, where settlers have rampaged against Palestinians amid the separate military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no room” for US sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank, after Washington imposed punitive measures on a handful of Jewish settlers on Thursday.

“Israel acts against all lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no room for exceptional measures in this regard,” said a statement by Netanyahu’s office.

The United States will announce initial sanctions against four people. Any assets they hold in the United States will be blocked, with Americans forbidden from financial transactions with them.

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.

The move comes as Biden travels Thursday to Michigan, a crucial state in November presidential elections and home to a major Arab American community, in which anger has been growing over Biden’s support for Israel. The mayor of one Detroit suburb is snubbing the president over the war.

A senior US official, explaining the new actions, said that Biden has consistently raised concern with Israel about violence by settlers.

“These actions pose a grave threat to peace, security, stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East region,” the official said on customary condition of anonymity.

“They also obstruct the realization of, ultimately, an independent Palestinian state, existing side by side of the state of Israel and, by extension, the enduring peace and stability for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” he said.

Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, 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, in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.