US sanctions Israeli group and individual for alleged West Bank violence against Palestinians

By Michael Conte, CNN

(CNN) — The US on Wednesday announced sanctions against an Israeli organization, Hashomer Yosh, allegedly responsible for supporting settler violence in the West Bank against Palestinians, according to a State Department spokesperson.

“After all 250 Palestinian residents of [West Bank village] Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement.

The US alleges the group also guarded the outposts of Israeli individuals previously sanctioned by the US.

The US also sanctioned an Israeli individual, Yitzhak Levi Filant, who allegedly “led a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands” in February.

“The United States will continue to take action to promote accountability for those who commit and support extremist violence affecting the West Bank,” Miller said.

In the announcement, Miller again called on Israel’s government to “hold accountable” those responsible for settler violence against civilians in the West Bank.

These sanctions are the latest in a wave from the US targeting Israel settler violence against Palestinians that has increased in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel that triggered the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

The Palestinian health ministry reported on Tuesday that 652 Palestinians, including 150 children, have been killed in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October 7, with over 5,400 others injured.

Most recently, the Biden administration sanctioned an Israeli violent extremist organization, Lehava, three Israeli individuals and four “outposts” connected to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in July.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order in February targeting violent West Bank settlers accused of directly perpetrating violence or intimidation.

The administration alleged the targeted individuals of initiating and leading a riot, setting buildings, fields and vehicles on fire and assaulting civilians and damaging property.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time called the sanctions unnecessary.

“Israel acts against all lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no room for exceptional measures in this regard,” the prime minister’s office said at the time, adding that “the absolute majority” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank “are law-abiding citizens.”

Prior to the order, in December, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new policy restricting extremist Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank from obtaining visas to come to the US.

“We will continue to seek accountability for all acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank, regardless of the perpetrator or the victim,” Blinken said at the time.

The new round of sanctions comes as Israel has killed at least 10 Palestinians in what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called an expansive counterterrorism operation in the West Bank involving raids and airstrikes.

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry condemned the “violation and crimes” by Israel, “especially the ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the targeting of the northern West Bank.”

Hamas has called for a return to suicide bombings against Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have expanded for decades, are considered illegal under international law.

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