Axios: Biden administration to impose sanctions against Ben Gvir and Smotrich
Axios revealed on Saturday that Washington has discussed imposing sanctions on Israeli National Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich due to the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank.
Axios quoted three unnamed US officials as saying that sanctions on Ben Gvir and Smotrich are among the possible steps discussed at the White House National Security Council meeting on Wednesday on how to respond to the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank.
“President Joe Biden’s administration is deeply frustrated with the Israeli government’s policy of expanding settlements, weakening the Palestinian Authority, and because the most radical members of the government are openly allied with extremist settler groups,” the US officials said.
Earlier this year, Biden signed an unprecedented executive order authorizing sanctions against Israeli settlers, and two rounds of sanctions have been issued so far.
Behind the scenes, when Biden signed the order, senior White House officials recommended the president punish Ben Gvir and Smotrich, but the US president rejected the proposal on the grounds that the US shouldn’t impose sanctions on elected officials in democratic countries, according to a senior US official.
Consequently, several Ben Gvir and Smotrich supporters and associates have been sanctioned since then, and the idea was discussed again this week at a National Security Council meeting, without any decision being made.
Axios published the remarks following an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Friday that Palestinians have the right to self-determination, that settlements on occupied land must be evacuated, and that Israeli settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
According to the Palestinian Commission to Resist the Wall and Settlements (governmental), settlers carried out a total of 1,334 attacks in the West Bank during the first half of 2024, causing the death of civilians.
According to figures from Israel’s left-wing Peace Now movement, about half a million Israelis reside in 146 large settlements and 144 outposts built on West Bank territory, not including occupied East Jerusalem.
The Israeli war on Gaza with US support has left more than 128,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, mostly children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children.
