The President of the United States, Joe Biden, signed an executive order yesterday that imposes sanctions on four Israeli settlers for repeated violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. It is the most significant step taken by the US since the war in Gaza escalated after Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7. It will ban settlers from traveling to the US and block them from accessing all US property and assets, as well as prohibiting them from sending or receiving money from the US country.
The sanctions seek to punish people “who have participated in repeated acts of intimidation and destruction of property, which has led to the forced displacement of Palestinian communities.” The four sanctioned are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi. All were involved in violent actions, as described in the executive order. Levi, for example, led a group of settlers who “created an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank” with “frequent” attacks on Palestinian communities, threatening them to leave their homes, burning their land and destroying property.
This executive action, which also responds to the disenchantment of many Democratic voters – especially young and Arab voters – with unwavering support for Israel in the conflict, increases the pressure on settlers, who were already restricted from obtaining visas from United States in December. Then the State Department launched a directive against dozens of “radical” Israelis, accused of increasing violence against Palestinians and Bedouins.
The White House warns that there will be more sanctions in the coming weeks. The executive order came hours before a campaign event by the president in Michigan, a key state in the run-up to the November election and which has a higher percentage of Arab population (2.11%), around 211,500 citizens. In the 2020 elections, the Democrat won by 150,000 votes, out of a total of 5.5 million who participated.
Before departing for the Midwestern state, Biden participated in the National Prayer Breakfast, a tradition that has been held in Washington since 1953. After the prayer, he addressed the Arab conflict – Israeli: “We not only pray for peace, but we actively work for the peace, security and dignity of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”
The measure looks with concern at the armed violence that Palestinians have suffered in the occupied territories of the West Bank for decades and that has increased since the attacks by Hamas on October 7. Since that day, 370 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, 94 of them children, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Biden administration fears that the war in Gaza will spread to the West Bank and open a new front in the Middle East, but it also has an electoral logic. Biden has shown strong support for Israel, despite pressure in his party to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This alignment has earned him condemnation from the Arab voter base, whose support has plummeted from 59% to 17% since 2020.
The executive order allows him to condemn settler violence while maintaining support for Israel, which is still in the majority. 52% have a favorable view of the Hebrew country, while 28% have a negative view. But support is plummeting among young people: 49% of citizens between the ages of 18 and 29 believe Israel is committing genocide in Palestine, according to an Economist poll published this week.
