U.S. targets Israeli-occupied West Bank settler violence with sanctions

U.S. Treasury officials on Tuesday announced sanctions against Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of West Bank settlers accused of attacking Palestinian and destroying their homes and property.


Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The United States on Tuesday sanctioned one informal organization and two people as the Biden administration continues to tighten its financial grip on those it accuses of perpetrating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The U.S. Treasury designated Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of West Bank settlers accused of attacking Palestinians and destroying their homes and property.
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Hilltop Youth is generally regarded as an informal organization that the U.S. government has listed as a "criminal organization."

The Treasury said the group of settlers has "conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians," which includes killings, arson, assaults and intimidation, with the goal of driving Palestinians out of the West Bank. It conducts what are called "price tag" assaults, which are revenge attacks conducted in reprisal for actions carried out against settlers.

The State Department said it sanctioned Eitan Yardeni on accusations of being connected to violence and threats in the West bank, and Avichai Suissa, who leads Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli non-government organization the United States sanctioned in late August.

"The worsening violence and instability in the West Bank are detrimental to the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of violent organizations like Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis," Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in a statement.

"The United States will continue to hold accountable the individuals, groups and organizations that facilitate these hateful and destabilizing acts."

Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements there are widely viewed as illegal under international law and have attracted the repeated criticism and condemnation of the United Nations and the wider international community.

Amid Israel's nearly year-long war against Hamas in Gaza, greater attention and criticism have been directed at Israel over its occupation of the West Bank as it is a growing flashpoint of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

The United States has been a critic of Israel's occupation and has said it represents an obstacle to a two-state solution. The Biden administration has sanctioned 27 individuals and entities accused of perpetuating violence there under an executive order that President Joe Biden signed in February.

The Biden administration has used the sanctions to criticize Israel for not doing more to curb violence in the West Bank, while critics have called on the administration to use its sanctioning power against those in the Israeli government who enable the violence against Palestinians.

"The Biden administration imposes more sanctions on settlers for violence against West Bank Palestinians but still hasn't imposed sanctions on any of the Israeli officials who are encouraging the settler violence," Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and current visiting professor at Princeton, said on X.

According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been some 1,390 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7 and Sept. 23.

Of those attacks, 135 involved the killing and wounding of Palestinians, 1,110 saw Palestinian property damaged and about 150 cause both casualties and property damage. The report added that some 1,628 Palestinians, including 794 children, have been displaced by the settler violence.