Biden issues more Israeli settler sanctions ahead of Trump term
Al Jazeera
Curbs come as US President-elect Donald Trump has named staunch Israeli settlement supporters to his incoming cabinet.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has issued a new round of sanctions against groups and individuals involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the United States continues to provide unwavering support for Israel’s Gaza war.
The US sanctions announced on Monday targeted the settlement development organisation Amana, as well as its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd.
Amana is a “key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement” and supports settlements and farms in the occupied West Bank “from which in turn settlers commit violence”, the US Treasury Department said.
At the same time, the US State Department also sanctioned three individuals and a third organisation for their “roles in violence targeting civilians or in the destruction or dispossession of property” in the West Bank.
They included Shabtai Koshlevsky, the vice president and co-founder of Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli group already under US sanctions, and Zohar Sabah, who the State Department said has “engaged in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes”.
