US places sanctions on Israeli nonprofit, settler official over West Bank violence

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By Simon Lewis

(Reuters) -The U.S. imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit and a Jewish West Bank settlement security official on Wednesday in Washington’s latest effort to punish Jewish settlers it accuses of extremist violence against Palestinians.

Hashomer Yosh, a non-governmental organization that says it helps protect settlers, provided material support to an unauthorized West Bank outpost already subject to sanctions, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The official is Yitzhak Levi Filant, a civilian security coordinator at the Yitzhar settlement who led a group of armed settlers in February to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols aimed at forcing Palestinians from their land, 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,” Miller said in a statement.

The statement called on Israel to hold those responsible for the violence accountable. The sanctions freeze the U.S. assets of those targeted, denying them access, and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

The sanctions will be imposed under an executive order on West Bank violence that President Joe Biden signed in February. It has been used to impose sanctions on a Palestinian militant group as well as Jewish settlers and those supporting them.

Pro-Israel advocacy groups and dual U.S.-Israeli citizens have filed a lawsuit challenging the order, alleging that the order broadly penalizes anyone who opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that “Israel views with utmost severity the imposition of sanctions on citizens of Israel” and there will be “a pointed discussion with the U.S.”

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.

The Biden administration in February said settlements were inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing U.S. policy on the issue that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir denounced earlier sanctions against settlers.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)