US imposes new sanctions for violence against civilians in West Bank News
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US imposes new sanctions for violence against civilians in West Bank

The US State Department announced sanctions Monday against several individuals and organizations for their alleged targeting of civilians amid Israeli settler encroachment on Palestinian lands in the West Bank. 

The Department of State imposed sanctions on Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD (Eyal LTD), its owner Itamar Yehuda Levi (Levi), Shabtai Koshlevsky (Koshlevsky), and Zohar Sabah (Sabah). Eyal LTD was accused of directly providing vehicles to support Levi, which were used as equipment and transportation tools to expand physical boundaries, leading to the dispossession of Palestinians. Levi owns Eyal LTD, while Koshlevsky serves as the vice president of Hashomer Yosh, a US-designated non-profit organization. Sabah was accused of engaging in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians and consistently employing destructive tactics to disrupt their livelihoods.

On the same day, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on Amana the Settlement Movement of Gush Emunim Central Cooperative Association Ltd, a key entity in the Israeli extremist settlement movement. The sanctions cited Amana’s ties to US-sanctioned individuals and outposts related to violence in the West Bank. OFAC also sanctioned Amana’s subsidiary, Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd, for its role in constructing and selling homes in settlements and outposts in the West Bank.

The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14115, Section 1 of which outlines the criteria for blocking individuals and entities that undermine peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. Under this order, any entity that has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support to, or supplied goods or services for or in support of, any person designated under the order is subject to blocking measures. Additionally, foreign persons who are responsible for, complicit in, or directly or indirectly involved in planning, ordering, directing, or participating in actions affecting the West Bank, including violence or threats targeting civilians, actions causing civilians to fear violence with the intent or effect of forcing displacement, property destruction, or the seizure or dispossession of property by private actors, are also subject to blocking. As a result, all property and property interests of designated individuals or entities within the United States or under the control of US persons are frozen and cannot be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise transacted.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch called on the Biden administration to comply with US law by immediately suspending arms transfers to Israel.

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