Barak Ravid
Axios / August 28, 2024
The U.S. State Department and the Department of Treasury on Wednesday announced new sanctions against an Israeli non-governmental organization that operates in the occupied West Bank for its support of violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians.
Why it matters: The organization “Hashomer Yosh” has been funded and supported in recent years by the Israeli government.
Senior members of the NGO are affiliated with the parties of ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich.
The Yesha council — the umbrella organization of Jewish settlement municipalities — is highly concerned about the gradual expansion of U.S. sanctions to a wider circle of individuals and entities involved in the movement.
Driving the news: Hashomer Yosh is an organization that focuses on civilian protection of illegal outposts and farms established by settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Some of these outposts and farms have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for their involvement in violence against Palestinian civilians.
Hashomer Yosh has received political and material support from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment, and from individual ultranationalist lawmakers in the governing coalition.
The NGO also raises donations in the U.S. through several foundations and online.
The State Department and the Department of Treasury sanctioned Yitzhak Levi Filant, the security coordinator for Yitzhar — one of the most extremist settlements in the West Bank — for his involvement in violence against Palestinians.
What they’re saying: “After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
“The volunteers also provided support by grazing the herds and purporting to “guard” the outposts of U.S.-designated individuals,” he said.
“The United States will continue to take action to promote accountability for those who commit and support extremist violence affecting the West Bank,” the statement said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in statement said “Israel is seriously concerned about the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens. The issue is under intense discussion with the United States.”
The latest: Israel Defense Forces conducted on Wednesday a wide-ranging operation in the West Bank that included three raids in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarem and in a refugee camp in the Jordan Valley.
At least nine Palestinians were killed. The IDF claimed all were armed.
Earlier this week, the IDF conducted an air strike in Tulkarem that killed 5 Palestinians. The IDF claimed it attacked a Hamas and Islamic Jihad operations room.
The big picture: In recent weeks, there has been an increase in violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Dozens of extremist settlers, many of them masked, set fire to homes and vehicles, in the Palestinian village of Jit in the West Bank last week.
At least one Palestinian man was reported killed after the attack.
Zoom in: The IDF published on Wednesday the conclusions of its investigation into the attack on the village of Jit.
According to the investigation, the Shin Bet warned the IDF about a possible settler attack. The IDF said the investigation concluded the first force that arrived “attempted to disperse the rioters and prevent harm to Palestinians, but they needed to act more decisively.”
During the incident, a Palestinian was killed by gunfire and another Palestinian was injured. The shooting is under investigation by the Israel Police and the Shin Bet.
The IDF said two members of a rapid response team from a nearby settlement who were involved in the incident were dismissed and their weapons were confiscated.
The IDF also said that in recent days four suspects — three adults and one minor — were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack.
“At the end of the police investigation, three of the adults were detained under an administrative order. The investigation into the events is ongoing, and additional arrests are planned,” the IDF said.
The commander of the IDF Central Command, Major General Avi Bluth said in a statement that this was “a very serious terror incident in which Israelis set out to deliberately harm the residents of the town of Jit, and we failed by not succeeding to arrive earlier to protect them.”
The big picture: The director of the Israeli Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, sent a letter recently to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several other ministers warning them that recent Jewish terror attacks against Palestinians have put the country on the brink of disaster.
In the statement announcing new sanctions, Miller said “extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region.”
“It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank.”
Barak Ravid is a political reporter and Middle East expert for Axios covering foreign policy and the 2024 election
