The United States government has imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank, signalling growing US displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Key points:

° The US State Department froze the assets of four settlers accused of committing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank

° Mr Netanyahu described the sanctions as necessary

°Israel's finance minister described the campaign against settler violence as an "anti-Semitic lie"

US President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday that aims to punish Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians envisage a future state.

The order establishes a system for imposing financial sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals who attack or intimidate Palestinians or seize their property, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

"Today's actions seek to promote peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he said.

United Nations figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled in the nearly four months since Palestinian Hamas militants on October 7 carried out a terrorist attack on Israel and Israel responded with an assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

The State Department sanctions freeze the US assets of the four men and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

A State Department statement said:

1. David Chai Chasdai initiated and led a riot that included setting vehicles and buildings on fire and causing damage to property in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

2. Einan Tanjil assaulted Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, resulting in injuries that required medical treatment.

3. Shalom Zicherman, according to video evidence, assaulted Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them on the street, attempted to break the windows of passing vehicles with activists inside, and cornered at least two of the activists and injured both.

4. Yinon Levi led a group of settlers that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property.

"Israel must do more to stop violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold accountable those responsible for it," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement.

"The United States will continue to take actions to advance the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution, and is committed to the safety, security, and dignity of Israelis and Palestinians alike

Biden and other senior US officials have warned repeatedly that Israel must act to stop violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Mr Biden has raised the issue directly with Mr Netanyahu, said one senior official, as the US president seeks a path to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians once the Gaza conflict ends.

Mr Netanyahu, who heads a religious-rightist coalition, has resisted US entreaties to develop a plan for post-conflict Gaza and to embrace a peace deal that envisages Israeli and Palestinian states side by side.

Mr Netanyahu's office on Thursday responded to the US steps by saying they were unnecessary.

"Israel takes action against all law-breakers everywhere, and therefore there is no need for unusual measures on the issue," it said in a statement.

The West Bank, among the territories where Palestinians seek statehood along with Gaza, has experienced a surge of violence in recent months amid expanding Jewish settlements and a nearly decade-old impasse in US-sponsored peacemaking.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right pro-settlement party Religious Zionism, was defiant in a statement on Mr Biden's order:

"The 'settler violence' campaign is an anti-Semitic lie that enemies of Israel disseminate with the goal of smearing the pioneering settlers and settlement enterprise, and to harm them and thus smear the entire State of Israel," Mr Smotrich said.

In December, the United States began imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.

It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land.

God1000:
US should stop giving military and financial aid to Israel for commiting war crimes, it's like genocide now has a different meaning in US dictionary.

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion.

Botragelad:

You talk too much! Lol

God1000:
Lol, we need to talk bro

Botragelad:

Why? Lol

God1000:

According to Martin Luther King Jr, he said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, that when people are treated unjustly and unfairly in one place, it makes injustice acceptable. This could lead to injustice occurring in more places

Botragelad:

You mean the Injustice melted to the people in Israel on October 7 by Hamas terrorists?
Why aren't you speaking about that?

God1000:
I'm talking about the injustice melted out to Palestinians for 75 years before the October attack.

Fineman2:

I know some Nigerians will come out to spill gibberish now since this move is against their so-called God chosen nation

EleventhWeirdo:


When the Jews declared an independent state over some paltry lands in 1948, why didn't the Palestinians do same ? Why didn't they declare independence from the British mandate first and then contest or go to war later? In 1948, '67, '73, or 2002, Palestinians and extended Arabs have demonstrated that they are not interested in their own sovereign prosperity; annihilation of Israel is their priority instead. Not that Israel too is completely innocent, but I cannot give my sympathies to a group overwhelmed by existential hate for another

Fineman2:


https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1215471684?-14432:11

Fineman2:


https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1215471684?-14432:11

Procashtips:


This one wan put mouth for wetin e no understand again.

The image below is of Jews being welcomed to Palestine.

BTW, the Palestinians had official seaport, flag, sport teams, government, airport, ambassadors etc prior to when the image below was taken

God1000:
US should stop giving military and financial aid to Israel for commiting war crimes, it's like genocide now has a different meaning in US dictionary.

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion.

US is practically funding Israel every year and they should be able to control them.

Fineman2:
This is a welcome development, even though it will not change anything.


I know some Nigerians will come out to spill gibberish now since this move is against their so-called God chosen nation