JNS
The Biden administration urged the Israeli government to take "immediate" steps to hold the accused to account.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five Israeli entities and three people on Thursday for what it said is support of acts of "violent extremism" in Judea and Samaria.
The Biden administration remains "deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel's own security," according to Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman.
"We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable," Miller said. "In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures."
On Feb. 1, U.S. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14115, sanctioning "persons undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank." The order cited "high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction."
The three Israeli citizens sanctioned on Thursday are farmer Isaschar Manne, as well as Reut Ben-Haim and Aviad Shlomo Sarid of Tzav 9 ("Order 9"), which opposes humanitarian aid going to Hamas in Gaza.
The Treasury Department released the home addresses of the three individuals, as well as their national identification numbers. The latter is like a U.S. social security number, but it is not something that Israelis keep secret, as Americans do.
In recent weeks, when the department and its Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iranians and Russians, it included the national identification numbers but not the home addresses of those sanctioned. JNS sought comment from the U.S. Treasury Department and its Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The five sanctioned Israeli entities are the Manne Farm, Meitarim Farm, Hamohoch Farm, Neriya's Farm and the Lehava anti-assimilation NGO.
The U.S. State Department said it suspects Manne—who runs a farm with guesthouses in the South Hebron Hills—of having established his ranch on "pastureland belonging to the Palestinian community," claiming that residents "regularly attack community shepherds and prevent their access to pastureland through acts of violence."
In June 2022, a Manne Farm resident survived an attempted lynching by local Palestinian rioters. The Jew was struck in the head with rocks and clubs and needed to be evacuated to the hospital for treatment.
Ben-Haim and Sarid were described by Washington as "leaders and co-founders" of Tzav 9, which the department accused of having "blocked humanitarian aid convoys traveling towards the Gaza Strip." The group previously denied using violence and has since changed tactics.
Israeli media reported that the U.S. government appears to have sanctioned the wrong Shlomo Sarid and that the full name and ID number detailed in official releases belong to someone unaffiliated with Tzav 9. JNS sought comment from the Treasury Department.
Meitarim Farm in the South Hebron Hills was listed due to its ties to rancher Yinon Levi, whom the Treasury Department designated in the first round of sanctions. Hamohoch Farm and Neriya's Farm were listed over alleged connections to Neriya Ben Pazi, sanctioned in March.
Lehava, a right-wing grassroots movement whose acronym stands for "Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land," stands accused of having engaged in acts of violence against Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
Lehava "has grown into the largest violent extremist organization in Israel, with chapters in every city and more than 10,000 registered members," the State Department noted in a fact sheet.
'Highly problematic'
The executive order places those sanctioned on the Office of Foreign Assets Control's specially designated nationals and blocked persons list. It blocks property and interests held in America that belong to any designated individual and prohibits U.S. citizens from contributing or providing funds, goods and services to or to benefit those designated.
Previous sanctions have been criticized by Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he protested them to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in February, calling the measure "highly problematic."
"If the U.S. wanted to use it in an equal manner, it would have imposed sanctions on hundreds of thousands of Palestinians," he said at the time.
Official data shows that the number of violent incidents committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the territory has dropped significantly.
Meanwhile, Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in recent months, with shootings reaching their highest level in 2023 since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, according to the IDF.
