The United States stepped up its opposition to West Bank Jewish extremist violence against Palestinians as it sanctioned Thursday three Israelis and two illegal outpost farms owned by them, alleging that they were used as a base for attacks. It’s the first time that sanctions have been issued against West Bank outposts connected to violence against Palestinians.
“These West Bank outposts are owned or controlled by designated individuals, have acted as a base from which to watch violent acts, and are illegal, even under Israeli law,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington.
“It is critical that Israel take additional action to stop settler violence and hold accountable those responsible for it. Not just for the sake not just for the sake of the victims of this violence but for Israel's standing in the world.” The US “will continue to take its own actions to hold accountable those engaging in extremist violence,” he added.
The Biden administration had sanctioned four Israeli extremists for violent acts against innocent Palestinians in the West Bank already in February. Thursday’s action expanded that list to seven, targeting three men. Zvi Bar Yosef, Moshe Sharvit, and Nerya Ben Pazi. It also sanctioned their agricultural entities, two outposts, one owned by Bar Yosef called Zvi’s Farm and one owned by Sharvit called Moshe’s Farm.
US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby clarified that the issue here was not the status of the farms as unauthorized outposts but rather that they were considered assets owned by two of the men. “The outposts are … being sanctioned because they are … owned by sanctioned individuals,” Kirby stated.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) accused the Biden administration of caving to the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment Movement against Israel, whose purpose is to “eliminate the settlement enterprise and establish “a Palestinian terrorist state.”
“The Israeli government is in favor of settlements, and these measures are completely unacceptable,” Smotrich stated, adding, “We will fight to revoke them.”
Between the lines
Shlomo Ne’eman, who heads the Yesha Council and the Gush Etzion Regional Council, accused the Biden administration of scapegoating the residents of Judea and Samaria instead of fighting Palestinian terrorism.
MK Limor Son-Harmelech (Otzma Yehudit) warned that “the campaign against violent settlers is beginning to show its consequences.”
"Today it is the pioneers on the hilltops, and tomorrow it will be soldiers serving in the IDF. The Israeli government must become involved before it spins out of control," Son-Harmelech said.
Americans for Peace Now called the sanctions against the outposts a significant step in the Biden administration’s recognition of the role outposts play in violent attacks against innocent Palestinians.
“By targeting outposts rather than solely focusing on individuals, the United States is sending a powerful message that it will not tolerate logistical or financial support for settlers’ attacks against Palestinian civilians,” Peace Now said.
Americans for Peace Now’s President and CEO, Hadar Susskind, added, “For too long, illegal outposts have served as launchpads for settler violence. These actions, including freezing assets and imposing visa bans, demonstrate the United States’ firm commitment to curbing settler violence.”
The State Department said that the sanctions targeted “those who undermine peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, which undermine the national security and foreign policy objectives of the US, including the viability of a two-state solution, ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom, and reducing the risk of regional destabilization.”
In targeting Bar Yosef, it alleged that he had “engaged in repeated violence and attempts to engage in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
His outpost farm, it alleged, was used “as a base from which he perpetrates violence against Palestinians and prevents local Palestinian farmers from accessing and using their lands.”
Sharvit, the State Department alleged, has “repeatedly harassed, threatened, and attacked Palestinian civilians and Israeli human rights defenders in the vicinity” of his farm.
It alleged that Sharvit had threatened Palestinians from the village of Ein Shibli to such an extent that some 100 of the village’s residents had fled for “their lives.”
Sharvit’s farm was used as “a base from which he perpetrates violence against Palestinians,” the State Department alleged.
In targeting Ben Pazi, the State Department alleged that he had “expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land.” It further alleged that “in August 2023, settlers including Ben Pazi attacked Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq.”
Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.