Biden Administration officials are mulling the option of imposing sanctions against two Israeli government ministers, according to a report by Axios journalist Barak Ravid, quoting a report by Huffington Post journalist Akbar Shahid Ahmed.
Officials from the National Security Council met last Wednesday to discuss potential sanctions against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to the report.
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are both residents of communities in Judea and Samaria and firmly support the right of Israelis to live in the ancient Jewish homeland.
Two prior rounds of sanctions were imposed on Israeli residents in Judea and Samaria on allegations of “settler violence against Palestinians” without any concrete evidence, let alone judicial process, to support the charges. The State Department threatened to impose further sanctions against those it considers
Ultimately, participants at the meeting agreed the decision would have to be made by President Joe Biden.
Ben-Gvir: Palestinian Authority Collapse Could Result
Commenting to the report on Saturday night, Ben-Gvir issued a statement warning that such a move would not end well for either side.
“I asked the Prime Minister to inform the American administration that to the extent sanctions are imposed against ministers in the government, and this policy is continued against Israeli citizens, that the Israeli response will result in the complete collapse of the Palestinian Authority, with all its institutions and its economy,” Ben-Gvir said.
Biden Opposed Sanctions on Elected Officials of Democracies
The White House move came in response to a decision by Israel to approve construction of 5,000 badly-needed housing units for existing Jewish communities in Area C of Judea and Samaria, a territory that is completely under the administrative and security control of the State of Israel since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Earlier this year, Biden signed an executive order allowing sanctions to be imposed on Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. The order would also make it possible to target leaders or government officials claimed to be “directing, enacting, implementing and enforcing or failing to enforce policies that threaten the peace, security and stability” in Judea and Samaria, officials in Washington said at the time.
While the Biden administration initially considered including Ben-Gvir and Smotrich on the list of sanctioned individuals, that plan was eventually shelved, Axios said.
The president allegedly stopped short of approving sanctions against Israeli government officials, because he believed the US should not impose sanctions on elected officials in other sovereign democratic nations.
Two rounds of sanctions have been leveled against Israeli residents of the territories since, setting off a cascade of sanctions against Israelis by the UK and other European nations.
Smotrich: ‘Settler Violence’ an Outright Lie
In response to the initial threat of US sanctions against him, Smotrich said at the time that the claim of “settler violence” was an outright lie.
“The ‘settler violence’ campaign is an anti-Semitic lie spread by Israel’s enemies with the aim of discrediting the pioneer settlers and the settlement enterprise and harming them, thereby discrediting the entire State of Israel. This is an anti-moral BDS campaign that turns the victim into the aggressor and permits the blood of the settlers. It’s a shame that the Biden administration cooperates with this in the days when the settlers are paying a dear blood price in the best of their sons in the war in Gaza.
“With God’s help, I will continue to act fearlessly to strengthen and develop Jewish settlement in all areas of the Land of Israel and strive for sustainable peace, which will only be achieved when the Arabs’ hope for the establishment of an Arab state on the ruins of the Jewish state is dashed. If the price is the imposition of American sanctions on me – then so be it,” Smotrich added.
It is interesting to note that no sanctions whatsoever have been imposed on Palestinian Authority citizens who attack Israelis, or PA officials who incite and urge their citizens to carry out such attacks.
White House in Sync with International Court of Justice?
The meeting preceded by two days a non-binding opinion issued Friday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stating Israel’s presence in post-1967 territories is illegal and amounts to annexation of “Palestinian territories.”
In fact, the disputed territories were divided and designated as Areas A, B and C under the internationally recognized Oslo Accords. Area B was to be under shared Israeli-Palestinian Authority control; Area A under total Palestinian Authority control, and Area C under total Israeli control.
The document has been largely ignored by the Palestinian Authority, which continues its government-backed incitement of terrorism against Israelis and which officially pays terrorists imprisoned for terror attacks, or the families of the terrorists if they die while trying to murder Israelis.
The Court’s opinion, however, apparently coincides with that of the Biden Administration, which also considers Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria to be a violation of international law.
There are more than 600,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.
Pompeo: Jewish Settlement Not Inconsistent with International Law
Under the previous Trump Administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a document since referred to as “The Pompeo Doctrine” that Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria is not, in fact, illegal. The opinion states that Israelis have a right to live in Judea and Samaria, as do Palestinian Authority Arabs, and calls for a negotiated resolution of the conflict.
“US public statements on settlement activities in the West Bank have been inconsistent over decades,” Pompeo noted in his announcement.
“In 1978, the Carter administration categorically concluded that Israel’s establishment of civilian settlements was inconsistent with international law. However, in 1981, President Reagan disagreed with that conclusion and stated that he didn’t believe that the settlements were inherently illegal.
“Subsequent administrations recognized that unrestrained settlement activity could be an obstacle to peace, but they wisely and prudently recognized that dwelling on legal positions didn’t advance peace. However, in December 2016, at the very end of the previous administration, Secretary Kerry changed decades of this careful, bipartisan approach by publicly reaffirming the supposed illegality of settlements.
“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this [Trump] administration agrees with President Reagan. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”
