By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on individuals and entities it said were linked to violence against Palestinian civilians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while urging the Israeli government to take action to hold them accountable.
Washington designated three Israeli individuals and five entities including the far-right group Lehava, which opposes Jewish assimilation with non-Jews and agitates against Arabs in the name of religion and national security.
The Biden administration said Lehava’s members have engaged in repeated acts of violence against Palestinians.
The group’s founder and leader Ben-Zion Gopstein had been designated previously by the United States, and Britain has also hit Lehava with sanctions.
The U.S. has also imposed sanctions on four unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank that the State Department said were “weaponized” for violence to displace Palestinians, such as disrupting grazing lands, limiting access to water wells and launching violent attacks on neighboring Palestinians.
“The United States remains deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable. In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”
The Biden administration’s moves against Israeli settlers have upset far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition who support the expansion of Jewish settlements and ultimately the annexation of the West Bank, which Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Gopstein, the most prominent Israeli figure targeted by U.S. sanctions, is a close associate of and has family ties to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who himself lives in a West Bank settlement.
Since the 1967 Middle East war Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.
In February, the Biden administration said settlements were inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing U.S. policy on the issue that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Simon Lewis and Susan Heavey; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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