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Within a few weeks President Biden imposes financial sanctions on Israelis accused of violent attacks in the occupied West Bank, crowdfunding campaigns on behalf of two of the men had raised the equivalent of more than $170,000.
Far-right Israelis pledged the money as a show of support for settlers, whose efforts to exert Israeli control over West Bank lands often involved maintaining illegal outposts and attacking and intimidating Palestinians. But the donations have become the focus of a legal battle after an Israeli credit card company refused to transfer the money.
Cal, the credit card company that processes the donations Yinon Levi, one of the settlers affected by sanctions, refused to send the money intended for Mr. Levi, stating that it would refund those who donated, according to the nonprofit that created the crowdfunding campaign. The group appealed to an Israeli court, arguing that the donations were intended for Mr. Levi's family, including his three children, and should not be affected by the U.S. restrictions.
Last week, a court in Tel Aviv issued a temporary injunction while it heard arguments in the case.
The sanctions announced by the Biden administration on February 1 have blocked four Israelis from entering the US financial system, and some Israeli banks have imposed restrictions on the men so as not to fall foul of US measures.
Mr Levi, who was accused by the US State Department of leading settler groups in attacks on Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, told ABC News that he had been unable to access his money in Israel and would have difficulty paying the workers on his farm. David Chai Chasdai, who the Foreign Ministry says led a deadly riot in the Palestinian town of Huwara, told an Israeli television channel that he could not pay his phone bills and his children's school fees.
On February 6, a campaign took place in support of Mr Levi – which was also the case last week hit by sanctions from Great Britain – appeared on the Israeli crowdfunding platform Givechack with a photo of him, his wife Sapir Levi and their three children. The campaign portrayed the family as victims of intimidation by the Israeli left and highlighted their financial situation since Mr Levi's accounts were frozen.
Within ten days, the campaign had raised more than 517,000 Israeli shekels ($141,000). Then the nonprofit that organized it took it down. Reut Gez, the director of the nonprofit Mount Hebron Fund, said in an interview that Cal, the Israeli credit card company, “has asked us to stop the campaign and is withholding the money.” The group filed a lawsuit to get the company to release the money to the company or a trustee who would manage the money for the family.
The Mount Hebron Fund was established in 2015 by the Mount Hebron Regional Council, a state-funded local authority in the West Bank, and is managed by council members and their family members, according to the Democratic Bloc, a group that monitors Israel's far-right. . Ms Gez said all donations for the Levi family came from Israel.
The campaign in support of Mr. Chasdai has raised 114,000 shekels, about $31,000, through a separate crowdfunding platform. These funds were raised by the nonprofit Shlom Asiraich, which helps Israeli Jewish extremists imprisoned for serious crimes, including murder, largely against Palestinians.
The crowdfunding efforts show that even though most Israelis, according to opinion surveys, are against settler violence, there is sympathy among the far right for those who face financial punishment. But the sweeping nature of the U.S. sanctions means that financial institutions would be reluctant to participate in efforts to send money to Mr. Levi or others, experts say.
“The language of the order suggests that anyone who enables or provides funds to sanctioned individuals is implicated and risks repercussions themselves,” said Eliav Lieblich, a law professor at Tel Aviv University. “No one wants to mess with the U.S. Treasury Department.”