President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday that aims to punish Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Biden's order establishes a system for imposing financial sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals who are found to have attacked or intimidated Palestinians or seized their property, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
"Today’s actions seek to promote peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," Sullivan said.
United Nations figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled in the nearly four months since the Hamas attack and Israel's ensuing assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Biden's action was first reported by Politico.
The Biden administration in December imposed travel bans on dozens of settlers and their families over the attacks.
"We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said then.
The sanctions expected to be levied Thursday underscore the pressure Biden is under from his left flank to be tougher on Israel amid its war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza, according to the report. Biden and senior U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel it must act to stop violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
"They're attacking Palestinians in places that they're entitled to be, and it has to stop. They have to be held accountable," Biden said in October.
Attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank were already increasing, as Jewish settlements expanded, before Hamas attacked Israel beginning Oct. 7. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 380 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,200 others injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since Oct. 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces have "already eliminated 500 terrorists" in the West Bank.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right pro-settlement party Religious Zionism, was defiant in a statement on the Biden order:
"The 'settler violence' campaign is an antisemitic lie that enemies of Israel disseminate with the goal of smearing the pioneering settlers and settlement enterprise, and to harm them and thus smear the entire State of Israel," Smotrich said.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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