The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Israeli settlement groups and individuals involved in violence targeting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. This move is in response to the ongoing Gaza war and the increase in settler violence. The US also called on Israel to do more to stop violence and hold those responsible accountable. While rights groups have welcomed the sanctions, many believe they do not go far enough, as the settlements are backed by the Israeli government. US lawmakers have urged Biden to sanction high-ranking members of the Israeli government for their role in settler violence and destabilizing activities in the West Bank.
The sanctions freeze assets of the targeted groups and individuals in the US and prohibit US citizens from conducting business with them. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take a more lenient approach towards Israeli settlements, potentially lifting the Biden-era sanctions. Trump’s previous administration renounced the US position that Israeli settlements were illegal, a decision later reversed by Biden. Trump has also appointed staunch settlement supporter Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador to Israel.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen Yechiel Leiter, another supporter of settlements, as Israel’s ambassador to the US under Trump’s administration. Leiter has ties to a hardline ultranationalist group deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This appointment signals a potential shift towards furthering settlement expansion and support under a Trump presidency. The intentions are to push further than in Trump’s first term, according to Israel-Palestine expert Michael Omer-Man.
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