U.S. sanctions extremist Israeli group Lehava and several West Bank outposts
Demonstrators waving the Israeli flag and the banner of the far-right Jewish group Lehava gather during the Israeli “flags march” to mark Jerusalem Day in the Old City on May 29, 2022. (Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department announced Thursday a new round of sanctions on Israeli individuals and groups over their alleged role in the rising violence and instability in the West Bank.
The sanctions target the extremist organization Lehava, several illegal West Bank settlement outposts and their founders, as well as leaders of a group that has blocked humanitarian aid convoys destined for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
According to the State Department, those sanctioned have threatened or attacked Palestinian civilians or seized Palestinian land with impunity, imperiling American aims of quieting the conflict in the West Bank.
“We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable,” the State Department said in its announcement. “In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”
Enforced by the U.S. Treasury, the sanctions are designed to isolate its targets. Financial institutions are ordered to freeze their assets and no one under U.S. jurisdiction is allowed to have any financial transactions with them. Fundraising to support sanctioned individuals or groups, for example, is prohibited and anyone caught violating the ban can themselves be sanctioned.
In a fact sheet released along with the announcement, the State Department called Lehava “the largest violent extremist organization in Israel, with chapters in every city and more than 10,000 registered members.” Members of Lehava have allegedly engaged in violence against Palestinians. The Biden administration had already in April placed Lehava’s leader, Bentzi Gopstein on its sanctions list.
Lehava has vowed to carry on as it always has.
“Biden’s actions will not deter us – we will continue to act fearlessly for the rescue of the children of Israel, to the dismay of Biden and the rest of the enemies of Israel,” the group said, according to Haaretz.
The new round of sanctions also underscored American opposition to the Israeli activists who have worked to stop aid from being sent to Gaza. Last month, the most prominent organization involved in aid blocking, Tsav 9, was sanctioned. Now the group’s leaders, Reut Ben Haim and Aviad Shlomo Sarid, have been added to the sanctions list as individuals.
The last set of sanctions targets is connected to the most extreme wing of Israel’s settler movement, which sets up outposts in the West Bank in violation of Israeli law while seizing Palestinian land. Outposts are sometimes eventually recognized by Israel, becoming settlements, a practice the United States considers detrimental to peace efforts.
The newly sanctioned outposts include Manne Farm in the South Hebron Hills, which was founded in 2020. Also now sanctioned is the outpost’s founder, Isaschar Manne. Manne and other members of the outpost, allegedly attack Palestinian shepherds and prevent them from accessing their pastures.
The United States also sanctioned an outpost called Meitarim Farm, whose founder Yinon Levi had previously been sanctioned, as well as Neriya’s Farm and Hamahoch Farm, two outposts founded by Neriya Ben Pazi, also previously sanctioned.
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