{"id":31476,"date":"2024-02-03T20:14:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T04:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=31476"},"modified":"2024-02-03T20:14:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T04:14:14","slug":"biden-imposes-sanctions-on-israeli-settlers-over-west-bank-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/02\/03\/biden-imposes-sanctions-on-israeli-settlers-over-west-bank-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Imposes Sanctions on Israeli Settlers Over West Bank Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The New York Times<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BidenPresident Biden speaking in Warren, Mich., to members of the United Auto Workers Union, which recently endorsed him. Michigan is vital to Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign for a second term. (photo: Pete Maravich\/The New York Times)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

02 february 24<\/strong> (RSN.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The order served as both a sharp-edged diplomatic notice to Israel and a message to Arab Americans, a key part of the political coalition the president needs to be re-elected.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

President Biden on Thursday ordered broad financial and travel sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a forceful gesture aimed in part at Arab American voters in the United States who have expressed fury about the president\u2019s backing of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Biden authorized the sanctions with an executive order that goes further than a directive issued in December by the State Department, which imposed visa bans<\/a> on dozens of Israeli settlers who have committed acts of violence in the West Bank. The sanctions will initially be imposed on four Israelis<\/a>, who will be cut off from the U.S. financial system and from accessing any American assets or property. They also will be prevented from traveling to the United States or engaging in any commerce with people in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mr. Biden, the order served a dual purpose: It was a sharp diplomatic notice to Israel\u2019s government at a time when the United States is pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for restraint. But it also sent a message to Arab Americans, a key part of the political coalition he needs to be re-elected, that he is serious about using the power of the United States on behalf of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House announced the sanctions just hours before Mr. Biden held a campaign event in Michigan, a critical battleground state that has a large Arab American population and has been the site of numerous protests over the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The executive order comes after years of American frustration with Israeli settlers, whom they view as a source of violence and instability and a threat to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. And it comes as Mr. Biden faces growing criticism over U.S. support for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, including from members of his own party. American officials fear a recent surge in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians<\/a> in the West Bank could set off even wider violence, making an already combustible situation worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis violence poses a grave threat to peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States,\u201d said Jake Sullivan, the president\u2019s national security adviser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s war against Hamas is taking place in the 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, home to about two million Palestinians. But there are also deep tensions in the West Bank, a much larger area that Israel has occupied since 1967. It is home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians and has long been at the heart of the territorial dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palestinians and many analysts say that Israel\u2019s government has allowed the often heavily armed settlers to act with impunity inside the West Bank. A United Nations report said that eight Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by Israeli settlers since Hamas fighters from Gaza invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office of Mr. Netanyahu responded to the sanctions by saying the \u201cvast majority\u201d of Israeli West Bank settlers were \u201claw-abiding citizens.\u201d Israel \u201cacts against lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no need for exceptional steps in this matter,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leaving for Michigan, Mr. Biden spoke about what he called \u201cthe trauma, the death and destruction in Israel and Gaza.\u201d Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he pledged to work for the release of hostages held by Hamas and the lives of Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only do we pray for peace, we are actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,\u201d he told the group of lawmakers and religious leaders at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is vital to Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign for a second term. In 2020, he won the state over former President Donald J. Trump by 154,188 votes out of almost 5.5 million cast that year. On Thursday, the president stopped by a Black-owned restaurant outside Detroit and met with about 100 members of the United Auto Workers, the union that had recently endorsed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against a backdrop with posters like \u201cUAW 4 JOE\u201d and \u201cUnions heart Joe,\u201d the president credited the labor movement for having the \u201cstrongest economy in the whole damn world,\u201d and dismissed skeptics who had predicted that \u201cChina\u2019s going to eat our lunch. Well guess what, man? We don\u2019t taste that good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said Mr. Biden was eager to thank Shawn Fain, the union\u2019s president, who was at the event, and to draw a contrast with former President Donald J. Trump in a state where union workers could decide who wins the presidential election this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll continue fighting against Donald Trump\u2019s historically anti-worker agenda,\u201d she said, promising that Mr. Biden would \u201cmake many trips to Michigan\u201d in the next several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is home to several hundred thousand Arab Americans, most of whom live in the Detroit area. Those areas voted by big margins for Mr. Biden in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since the attacks by Hamas and Israel\u2019s response in Gaza, polls show the president losing support among Arab Americans. One poll late last year<\/a> showed Mr. Biden\u2019s support in that population plummeting from 59 percent to 17 percent, a more than 40 percentage point decrease since the last election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Biden has been dogged by people protesting his support for Israel at almost every campaign event in recent weeks. At a third stop on Thursday, at the Simple Palate restaurant, he was met by a number of protesters waving Palestinian flags and using a megaphone to chant, \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d and \u201cHow many kids have you killed today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osama A. Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, said on Thursday that Mr. Biden\u2019s standing among Arab voters was as low as it had ever been, and that the sanctions would do nothing to change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have given up on him doing anything,\u201d Mr. Siblani said, adding that he had been struck by the lack of specificity from the White House about the president\u2019s schedule in Michigan, which he said seemed like an attempt to avoid possible protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Mr. Biden\u2019s travel on Thursday, the White House and the president\u2019s re-election campaign had provided only scant information about where he was going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the community is not going to be able to protest his visit,\u201d Mr. Siblani said, \u201cwe\u2019re going to give him the answer on Feb. 27,\u201d a reference to the date of the Michigan Democratic presidential primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokeswoman for Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign disputed the idea that the campaign was being secretive, noting that Mr. Biden often appears at small events that are not announced in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protesters believe that Mr. Biden has not done enough to prevent the killing of thousands of Palestinians by Israel. Authorities in Gaza say at least 26,000 people have been killed during Israel\u2019s military campaign against Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials said the sanctions would not be levied against American citizens living in Israel. State Department officials identified the four Israelis who were named in the sanctions on Thursday as David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a news release on Thursday, officials said Mr. Chasdai had \u201cinitiated and led a riot\u201d resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian and assaulted other Palestinians. They said Mr. Tanjil had been \u201cinvolved in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Zicherman \u201cassaulted Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank,\u201d officials said, citing video evidence. They said Mr. Levi had threatened \u201cviolence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property” in the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement that the sanctions are designed in part to pressure Israel\u2019s government to prevent the kind of violence by its citizens against Palestinians living in the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank and the prospects of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,\u201d Mr. Blinken said. \u201cIsrael must do more to stop violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold accountable those responsible for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times President Biden speaking in Warren, Mich., to members of the United Auto Workers Union, which recently endorsed him. Michigan is vital to Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign for a second term. (photo: Pete Maravich\/The New York Times) 02 february 24 (RSN.org) The order served as both a sharp-edged… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31477,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31476\/revisions\/31477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}