President Biden on Thursday ordered broad financial and travel sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a forceful move aimed in part at Arab American voters in the United States who have expressed fury over the support from the president to Israel’s war in the Loop.
Mr. Biden authorized the sanctions in an executive order that goes further than a directive issued in December by the State Department, which imposed visa bans on dozens of Israeli settlers who committed acts of violence in the West Bank. The sanctions will initially be imposed on four Israeli settlers, who will be cut off from the US financial system and access to any US assets or property. They will also be prohibited from traveling to the United States or doing business with people in the United States.
For Mr. Biden, the order served a dual purpose: It was a sharp diplomatic warning to the Israeli government at a time when the United States is pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demonstrate detention. But it also sent a message to Arab Americans, a key part of the political coalition he needs to win re-election, that he is serious about using U.S. power on behalf of the Palestinians.
The executive order comes after years of American frustration with Israeli settlers, whom it views 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 US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, including from members of his own party. U.S. officials fear that a recent surge in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank could spark even broader violence, escalating an already explosive situation.
“This violence poses a serious 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,” he said. said Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security official. advise.
Israel’s 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 occupied by Israel since 1967. It is home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians and has long been at the heart of the territorial conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinians and many analysts say the Israeli government has allowed settlers, often heavily armed, to operate with impunity in the West Bank. A United Nations report says eight Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli settlers since Hamas fighters from Gaza invaded Israel on October 7 and killed 1,200 people.
Mr Netanyahu’s office responded to the sanctions by saying the “vast majority” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank are “law-abiding citizens”. Israel “takes action against violators everywhere, so there is no need to take exceptional measures in this matter,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The White House announced the sanctions just hours before Mr. Biden held a campaign event in Michigan, a critical state with a large Arab-American population and which has been the scene of numerous protests against the war in Gaza.
Before leaving for Michigan, Mr. Biden spoke about what he called “the trauma, death and destruction in Israel and Gaza.” Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he pledged to work for the release of the hostages and the lives of the Palestinians.
“Not only do we pray for peace, but we actively work for the peace, security and dignity of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he told the group of lawmakers and religious leaders at the event. .
Michigan is vital to Mr. Biden’s campaign for a second term. In 2020, he won the state over former President Donald J. Trump by 154,188 votes out of nearly 5.5 million cast that year. Michigan is home to several hundred thousand Arab-Americans, most of whom live in the Detroit area. These regions voted with a large majority for Mr. Biden in 2020.
But since the attacks in Israel, polls show that the president has lost the support of Arab Americans. A survey at the end of last year showed that Mr. Biden’s support among this population fell from 59 percent to 17 percent, a decrease of more than 40 percentage points since the last election.
Mr. Biden has been harassed by people protesting his support for Israel at almost every campaign event in recent weeks.
Osama A. Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, said Thursday that Mr. Biden’s standing among Arab voters was as low as it had ever been, and that sanctions would do nothing. to change that.
“We’ve given up on doing anything to him,” Mr. Siblani said, adding that he was struck by the White House’s lack of specificity about the president’s Michigan agenda, which he said seemed be an attempt to avoid possible demonstrations.
Before Mr. Biden’s trip on Thursday, the White House and the president’s re-election campaign had provided little information about his destination.
“If the community fails to protest his visit,” Mr. Siblani said, “we are going to give him the answer on February 27,” a reference to the date of Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary.
A spokesperson for Mr. Biden’s campaign disputed the notion that the campaign was secret.
“The secrecy is overblown,” said Lauren Hitt, the campaign representative, who noted that a local Michigan newspaper had written about unconfirmed reports that he would visit autoworkers earlier this week. “He often does small retail events. “This format is not new.”
The anger directed at the president is largely fueled by the belief that his administration has not done enough to prevent Israel’s killing of thousands of Palestinians as it wages a war in Gaza against Hamas. Gaza authorities say at least 26,000 people have been killed during the Israeli military campaign.
Officials said the sanctions would not be imposed on U.S. citizens living in Israel. State Department officials identified the four Israeli settlers sanctioned Thursday as: David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi.
In a press release issued Thursday, officials said Mr. Chasdai “initiated and led a riot” that resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian and assaulted other Palestinians. They said Mr Tanjil was “involved in attacks on Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and batons”.
Mr. Zicherman “attacked Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank,” officials said, citing video evidence. They said Mr. Levi threatened them with “violence if they did not leave their homes, burn their fields and destroy their property” in the West Bank.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement that the sanctions are intended in part to pressure the Israeli government to prevent the type of violence by its citizens against Palestinians living in the West Bank.
“The United States has always opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank and the prospects for peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Blinken said. “Israel must do more to end violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold those responsible accountable. »
Mitch Smith And Zach Montague reports contributed.
