President Joe Biden signed an executive order allowing Washington to blacklist Israeli settlers that attack Palestinians in the West Bank. Over the past four months, there has been widespread violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, killing nearly 100 children and driving thousands from their homes.
On Thursday, a senior White House official told reporters that Biden signed an executive order allowing sanctions on violent settlers because the attacks on Palestinians caused regional instability. The initial round of sanctions placed four Israelis on the blacklist.
Netanyahu denounced the executive order. “Israel acts against all lawbreakers everywhere, so there is no room for exceptional measures in this regard,” a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office said.
The sanctions are in response to over 500 settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The illegal settlers have assaulted and intimidated Palestinians in hopes of forcing them out of the West Bank. Several have been killed in the attacks, including at least one child. The violent attacks by Israeli civilians often occur as Israeli security forces look the other way.
Biden’s concern about civilian violence in the West Bank is perplexing as the White House routinely dismissed far more significant attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Nearly 400 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank over the past four months, and over 4,000 have been injured. Thousands of others have been arrested and tortured, and thousands of Palestinians fled the West Bank.
This week, the White House refused to condemn Israeli forces after they conducted three assassinations in a West Bank hospital.
In the besieged Palestinian enclave, the IDF’s crimes are far worse. At least 26,900 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 17,000 women and children. Far more than half of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. The Guardian reported that Israel’s systematic destruction of the Strip could amount to a campaign to make Gaza uninhabitable for Palestinians. An exclusive from Haaretz revealed that Israeli forces were engaging in widespread arson, destroying Palestinians’ homes.
