EU sanctions four ‘extremist’ Israeli settlers

By

 AFP

Te European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on four “extremist” Israeli settlers and two groups over violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Brussels said.

The decision was the second part of an agreement among EU member states that saw Palestinian Islamists Hamas last week sanctioned over sexual violence during the October 7 attack on Israel.

The move to target violent settlers in the West Bank comes two months after the United States and Britain took similar steps. 

The EU put two “radical” organisations Lehava and the Hilltop Youth on its asset freeze and visa ban blacklist for their attacks on Palestinians.

It also included Hilltop Youth leaders Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, along with settlers Neria Ben Pazi and Yinon Levi. 

“The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians,” said an EU statement. 

It said abuses included “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and “the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Separately, the United States on Friday said it was adding Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of Lehava, to its own blacklist.

Washington also imposed sanctions on two groups involved in raising tens of thousands of dollars for settlers Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai, who were targeted in its earlier sanctions. 

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence in the past year, particularly since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza.

At least 468 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel that triggered the war, according to official Palestinian sources.

US sanctions entities for funding West Bank extremists targeting Palestinians

April 19, 2024 
By VOA News

A Palestinian woman reacts to damage done to her house in Qusra, near Nablus, West Bank, April 14, 2024. Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank had gone on an extensive rampage in the area; witnesses said settlers assaulted a number of communities.

The United States on Friday sanctioned two entities accused of raising tens of thousands of dollars for extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

In a statement, U.S. Treasury Department officials said the two sanctioned entities — the Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich — generated $140,000 for settler Yinon Levi and $31,000 for settler David Chai Chasdai, respectively.

U.S. officials said they sanctioned Levi and Chasdai in February in connection with West Bank violence — Levi for leading a group of hard-line settlers who assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burning their fields and destroying their property; Chasdai for initiating and leading a riot that involved torching vehicles and buildings in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

"Such acts by these organizations undermine the peace, security and stability of the West Bank," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. "We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable."

Also sanctioned Friday was Lehava founder Ben-Zion Gopstein, whose followers have engaged in violence in the West Bank, including assaulting Palestinian civilians.

"We are deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank in recent days," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement Friday.

Miller added that the U.S. was calling on Israel "to take all appropriate measures to prevent attacks by violent extremist settlers and hold those responsible accountable."

The sanctions on the three entities will freeze all U.S. assets, prevent them from using the U.S. financial system, and ban Americans from working with them.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.