Biden signs executive order against violent Israeli settlers in West Bank

WASHINGTON (CNN) — US President Joe Biden signed an executive order targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank, who he says have undermined stability in the region, a US official and a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The new decree, first reported by Politico, would impose sanctions on several individuals accused of participating in the violence.

The move targets four people accused of directly perpetrating violence or intimidation in the West Bank, a senior administration official said, including some accused of starting and directing riots; setting fire to buildings, farms and vehicles; Attacks on civilians and damage to property.

The State Department released the names of the Israelis targeted by the decree, which freezes their financial assets and prohibits them from entering the United States. They are David Chai Chasdai, Inan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinan Levy.

The White House informed the Israeli government of its plans before the order, an official said.

Officials said they have collected evidence they believe points to the role of these individuals in the violence in the West Bank and that it could withstand judicial review, including information from public reports.

According to the State Department, Chasdai initiated and led a riot that set fire to vehicles and buildings, attacked Palestinian civilians, and damaged property in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

Tanjeel “engaged in attacks on Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists, attacking them with stones and sticks, causing injuries that required medical treatment,” according to a State Department fact sheet.

Zickerman, “according to video evidence, attacked Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocked them in the street, and tried to break the windows of passing vehicles with activists inside.” According to the State Department, it surrounded two activists, injuring them.

According to the fact sheet, Levy “led a group of settlers who committed actions that created an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank.”

“They regularly lead groups of settlers from the Metarim farm outpost to attack Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatening them with further violence if they do not leave their homes, burn their farms and destroy their property.” Levy “and other Metarim farm settlers have repeatedly attacked multiple communities in the West Bank.”

It is not clear when each of these acts took place.

Biden has condemned these acts of violence in the past, and it’s an issue the president has personally discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months.

The decree comes as the president faces backlash from key sectors of his political coalition for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Although the move is not expected to address the situation in Gaza, it would be one of Biden’s most significant actions to criticize Israel since the war began after an October 7 terror attack by Hamas, and could be a signal from Biden to Muslim and Arab messages. American voters who resent his refusal to call for a cease-fire.

In December, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced a new policy to prevent extremist Israeli immigrants responsible for violence in the West Bank from coming to the United States.

Blinken said at the time that the State Department could apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians responsible for attacks in the West Bank.

Ultimately, the new policy is “expected to affect dozens of individuals and potentially their family members,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said at the time.

Settler violence against West Bank residents was at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict long before the October 7 attack by Hamas. When hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the city of Huwara last February, the resulting violence was so brutal that an Israeli military commander in the West Bank called it a “pogrom.”

Violence has escalated since October 7, along with fears of Palestinians being targeted in reprisal attacks. Dozens of Palestinians died in the West Bank in the weeks immediately following the Hamas attack, as settler violence intensified.

An estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. It is unclear what specific acts the recipients of Biden’s executive order participated in.

According to a senior administration official, Biden “raised the issue of settler violence in nearly every diplomatic conversation with Israeli leaders.”

“These actions pose a serious threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East region, and also hinder the eventual realization of an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel and, by extension, lasting peace and stability for Palestinians and Israelis alike. ,” the official said.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill Thursday morning, before issuing the executive order, Biden acknowledged the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians. He said he understood the “pain felt by many here in the United States and around the world” in response to “the trauma, the destruction in Israel and Gaza.”

“We appreciate and pray for the lives we took and the families left behind,” Biden said. “For all those living in terrible circumstances, innocent men, women and children, held hostage or bombed, or displaced without knowing where the next meal will come from, or if it will come at all.”

According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry earlier this week, the total death toll in Gaza since October 7 rose to 26,422, with 65,087 wounded. The original Hamas attack on Israel killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages.

“We don’t just pray for peace,” he continued, “we actively work for the peace, security and dignity of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”

Biden said he was dedicated “day and night” to bringing home hostages held by Hamas and was also working to “relieve the humanitarian crisis and bring peace to Gaza and Israel and a lasting peace with two states for two peoples.”