Biden imposes sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence in the West Bank

President Biden on Thursday ordered broad financial and travel sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, a strong gesture aimed in part at Arab-American voters in the United States who have expressed anger over support for the president to the war in Israel. Gaza.

Mr. Biden approved the sanctions with an executive order that goes beyond a directive issued by the State Department in December that imposed a visa ban on dozens of Israeli settlers who had committed acts of violence in the West Bank. The sanctions will initially be imposed on four Israelis, who will be cut off from the US financial system and from access to US assets or property. They will also be prevented from traveling to the United States or engaging in any form of trade with people in the United States.

For Mr. Biden, the order served a dual purpose: It was a sharp diplomatic message to the Israeli government at a time when the United States is pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for restraint. But it also sent a message to Arab Americans, a key part of the political coalition he needs to be re-elected, that he is serious about using the power of the United States on behalf of the Palestinians.

The executive order comes after years of American frustration with Israeli settlers, whom they view 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 mounting criticism of US support for Israel's war in Gaza, including from members of his own party. U.S. officials fear that a recent wave of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank could spark even greater violence, worsening an already incendiary situation.

“This violence poses a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank, Israel, and the Middle East, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States,” said Jake Sullivan, National security advisor to the president. .

The Israeli war against Hamas is taking place in the Gaza Strip of more than 230 square kilometers, where about two million Palestinians live. But there are also deep tensions in the West Bank, a much larger area that Israel has occupied since 1967. It is home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians and has long been at the heart of the territorial dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinians and many analysts say the Israeli government has allowed the often heavily armed settlers to operate with impunity in the West Bank. A United Nations report said eight Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli settlers since Hamas fighters from Gaza invaded Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people.

Mr. Netanyahu's office responded to the sanctions by saying that the “vast majority” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank were “law-abiding citizens.” Israel “is taking action against lawbreakers everywhere, so no exceptional steps are needed in this matter,” 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 battleground state with a large Arab-American population and which has been the site of numerous protests over the war in Gaza.

Before leaving for Michigan, Mr. Biden spoke about what he called “the trauma, death and destruction in Israel and Gaza.” During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he pledged to work for the release of hostages held by Hamas and for the lives of Palestinians.

“We are not just praying for peace, we are actively working for peace, security and dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he told the group of lawmakers and religious leaders at the event.

Michigan is crucial to Biden's campaign for a second term. In 2020, he won the state from former President Donald J. Trump with 154,188 votes out of nearly 5.5 million votes cast that year. On Thursday, the president stopped by a Black-owned restaurant outside Detroit, where he met about a hundred members of the United Auto Workers, the union that had recently endorsed him.

Against a backdrop of posters like “UAW 4 JOE” and “Unions heart Joe,” the president called the labor movement the “strongest economy in the world,” dismissing skeptics who had predicted that “China will eat our economies.” lunch. Well guess what, man? We don't taste that good.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said Mr. Biden was eager to thank Shawn Fain, the union's president, who attended the event and wanted to create a contrast with former President Donald J. Trump in a state where unionized workers could decide who wins this year's presidential elections.

“He will continue to fight against Donald Trump's historically anti-labor agenda,” she said, promising that Biden would make “many trips to Michigan” in the coming months.

Michigan is home to several hundred thousand Arab Americans, most of whom live in the Detroit area. Those areas voted for Mr. Biden by large margins in 2020.