The US and EU have imposed sanctions on additional Israeli individuals and entities responsible for terrorism against Palestinians. These include settler organizations and settler leaders and could soon include a unit of the IDF.
The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the West Bank. Two leading figures of Hilltop Youth, Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, are also listed. Both were involved in deadly attacks against Palestinians in 2015 and 2023.
Today’s designations also include Neria Ben Pazi, who has been accused of repeatedly attacking Palestinians in Wadi Seeq and in Deir Jarir since 2021, and Yinon Levi, who has taken part in multiple violent acts against neighbouring villages from his residence in the Mitarim farm illegal outpost.
Council of the European Union
Bentzi Gopstein, the leader of the Lehava group, a Jewish Supremacist anti-assimilation movement that espouses the expulsion of all Arabs from a greater Israel, was included in the sanctions.
Haaretz reported last year that he (Gopstein) had been advising Ben-Gvir on policing issues, a report denied by Ben-Gvir’s office, although the two men have been photographed together including at a political campaign event in 2019. — Guardian
One entity targeted on Friday, Mount Hebron Fund, launched an online fundraising campaign that raised $140,000 for settler Yinon Levi, the Treasury said, after he was sanctioned on Feb. 1 for leading a group of settlers that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property.
It said the second entity, Shlom Asiraich, raised $31,000 on a crowdfunding website for David Chai Chasdai, who the United States sanctioned for initiating and leading a riot that included setting vehicles and buildings on fire and causing damage to property in the Palestinian town of Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian. — Reuters
While it is expected that the US will impose sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces "Netzah Yehuda" battalion for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, that was only one unit found responsible for crimes against Palestinian civilians:
Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes
The incidents under review mostly took place in the West Bank and occurred before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. They include reports of extrajudicial killings by the Israeli Border Police; an incident in which a battalion gagged, handcuffed and left an elderly Palestinian American man for dead; and an allegation that interrogators tortured and raped a teenager who had been accused of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Recommendations for action against Israeli units were sent to Blinken in December, according to one person familiar with the memo. “They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then,” another official said. — Pro Publica
Belgium will lead re-evaluation of EU-Israel trade accord
Belgium also wants Europe to introduce import duty on products coming from illegal Israeli settlements, Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter says
Belgium will also co-sponsor a UN resolution in favour of full Palestinian UN membership and would seek an EU-wide import duty on products coming from illegal Israeli settlements, she added.
Ireland wants to recognise Palestine soon, but in a coordinated action with Spain and more European nations, the country’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said after meeting Sanchez in Dublin on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Sanchez travelled to Oslo, where Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said his country also “stands ready” to recognise Palestine together with “like-minded countries”.
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Last month, Spain and Ireland, long champions of Palestinian rights, announced alongside Malta and Slovenia that they would jointly work towards the recognition of a Palestinian state. They said they were “ready to recognise Palestine” in a move that would happen when “the circumstances are right”. — Al Jazeera
The fact that the administration has been sitting on proof of terrorism against Palestinians — and not just from settler extremists. Military and police units are engaged in criminal terrorism against Palestinians as well. The most moral army in the world allows settler terrorists to have their own battalions. You would not want soldiers who might think killing women and children is wrong interfering with their activities, and the administration has known about this for months. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been gaslighting the American public.
President Biden gave a master class in international statesmanship in reassembling the NATO and European alliance to stand against illegal occupation and genocide by Russia in Ukraine. It's time he stood with our European allies against illegal occupation and genocide in Palestine.
If Biden wants his peace plan to have a chance he needs to reward partners for peace and punish the enemies of peace.
- Sanction Ben-Gvir, Smothrich, and all of the illegal settlements.
- Recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders.
- Admit Palestine to the UN as a full voting member.
- Demand an immediate permanent cease-fire in Gaza, including the release of all hostages held by Hamas and the release of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails
- Demand an immediate start of negotiations to end the occupation.
The Israelis and Palestinians will never reach a negotiated settlement unless the US and its allies drive radical changes in the dysfunctional, bloody status quo. We have sent billions in aid to Israel and gotten in return regional instability, a forever war, and lectures from Netanyahu. We should empower Israelis and Palestinians who are ready to build peace rather than leave the future to Netanyahu and Hamas.
We should start walking the talk on US opposition to illegal settlements and for a two-state solution. Although this has supposedly been the American position for decades, it's time we put some teeth into our policy.