Fifty-five Israeli lawmakers, including government ministers, on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use his address to the U.S. Congress this week to denounce the Biden administration’s sanctions against Israeli citizens and entities in Judea and Samaria.
The letter, an initiative of the Knesset’s Land of Israel Caucus, also urged the premier to invite the heads of local authorities in Judea and Samaria to join the delegation scheduled to leave for Washington on Monday.
“We, the undersigned members of Knesset, are deeply shocked by the decision of the U.S. administration to impose economic sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities,” the missive reads.
The signatories include Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas Party), Religious Services Minister Michael Malchiel (Shas), Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer (Religious Zionism), Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit), Economy Minister Nir Barkat (Likud), Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein (Likud) and MK Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope-National Right).
According to the lawmakers, the U.S. government’s recent blacklisting of Israelis amounts to “a blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty, as well as the long-standing friendship between the two countries and the democratic values that America has always been the flag bearer of.”
The MKs said that “not a single” sanction was imposed on Gaza’s Hamas terrorist group and the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, which they noted are “immersed up to their necks into terrorism.
They added, “It is inconceivable that movements, organizations and individuals that work to promote our rights to the land, whom we are all grateful for due to their many years of blessed activity on behalf of our land, will be denounced and harmed by our great friend, the U.S.
“Ahead of your address to Congress, we urge you to express our position in your speech and make it clear that Israel will not be able to let such severe decisions go unanswered,” the letter to Netanyahu concludes.
Israeli media reported on Sunday night that Netanyahu canceled a meeting with Israel Ganz, who heads the Yesha Council that represents some 500,000 Israelis in Judea and Samaria, and other local leaders.
According to the Ynet news outlet, the group had planned to ask the prime minister to address the issue of sanctions. Reports said that the Yesha Council was outraged by the move and that it would meet to discuss further steps.
In response, the Prime Minister’s Office claimed that no tête-à-tête had been scheduled with Judea and Samaria leaders. However, Israel Hayom reported that the group had already received visitor passes and was waiting outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem ahead of the meeting.
Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday at the invitation of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
The invite “symbolizes the U.S. and Israel’s enduring relationship and will offer Prime Minister Netanyahu the opportunity to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending their democracy, combating terror, and establishing just and lasting peace in the region,” the U.S. lawmakers said.
In February, President Joe Biden issued an executive order allowing for sanctions on “persons undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank,” citing “high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages and property destruction.”
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department sanctioned five Israeli entities and three people for what it said is support of acts of “violent extremism” in Judea and Samaria, in the latest in a series of such decisions.
Last week, the U.S. announced that it is sanctioning an Israeli and his family six years after the man served a prison term in the Jewish state.
Data shows that the number of violent incidents committed by Israelis against Palestinians has dropped significantly, while Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in recent months.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the Biden administration after Axios reported that Washington is considering placing sanctions on him, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and others over their policies vis-à-vis Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
Imposing sanctions on a Cabinet minister would deal “a fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the countries and this will have serious consequences in many areas,” Smotrich said.
Last week, the Land of Israel Caucus helped initiate a Knesset motion formally rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The resolution, which was put forward by MK Ze’ev Elkin of the New Hope-National Right Party with support from MK Yisrael Beiteinu Party, passed by 68 to 9.
The caucus, the mission of which is to bolster Israeli control of Judea and Samaria, includes members from Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing parties, as well as Benny Gantz‘s centrist National Unity Party.
