On the same day that Iran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state and two Palestinian terrorists killed seven people in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions against two Israelis in Judea and Samaria whom Foggy Bottom accused of “undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.”
The State Department said the two are “a violent Israeli settler and the CEO and director of U.S.-designated Hashomer Yosh.”
“The actions of these individuals have contributed to creating an environment where violence and instability thrive,” Foggy Bottom stated. “Their actions, collectively and individually, undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” (The Biden administration refers to part of Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)
Hashomer Yosh, a nonprofit, has said that it does not engage in violence and that the U.S. sanctions are based on false information.
The U.S. Treasury Department identified the two Israelis as Eitan Yardeni and Avichai Suissa. It also designated Hilltop Youth, which the State Department said is “a violent extremist group that has rampaged through Palestinian communities in the West Bank.”
“It has carried out killings, mass arson and other so-called ‘price tag’ attacks to exact revenge and intimidate Palestinian civilians,” the State Department said. “Hilltop Youth has repeatedly clashed with the Israeli military when it tries to counter Hilltop Youth’s destructive activities.”
The Biden administration called on the Israeli government to “take action and hold violent actors, like those designated today, accountable.” It added that “we will continue to use our tools to promote accountability for violence that threatens peace and stability in the region, no matter the national origin, ethnicity, race or religion of the perpetrators of such violence.”
“The worsening violence and instability in the West Bank are detrimental to the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of violent organizations like Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis,” stated Bradley Smith, acting under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.
“The United States will continue to hold accountable the individuals, groups and organizations that facilitate these hateful and destabilizing acts,” Smith stated.
The State Department sent a fact sheet and press release on the sanctions to reporters hours after every civilian in Israel sheltered as the Islamic Republic bombed the Jewish state, the Israeli military said.
David Milstein, who advised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign and worked for David Friedman, then-U.S. ambassador to Israel, wrote when the Treasury Department first announced the sanctions that they came “as Israel is fighting a war of survival against Iran and its terror proxies on seven fronts, and on the same day Iran is poised to launch another major escalatory attack from Iranian soil.”
“The Biden-Harris administration has shamefully abused sanctions authority to impose more illegitimate sanctions on Israeli organizations,” he wrote. “This is truly reprehensible.”
