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Revocation of Sanctions against Violent Israeli Settlers Will Encourage Terrorist Attacks against Palestinians, Fuel Instability

Decision underscores ongoing American failure to hold Israel accountable and protect Palestinian rights, further fueling violence against civilians in the West Bank

(Washington, D.C., January 27, 2025) — On January 20, President Trump officially revoked Executive Order 14115, which President Biden had issued to sanction individuals and entities responsible for destabilizing activities in the West Bank, including Israeli settler violence and the unlawful dispossession of Palestinian civilians. Four days later, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) all of the individuals and entities it had sanctioned under EO 14115. As a result, all property and interests in property blocked under EO 14115 were unblocked.

"President Trump's decision to revoke the U.S. government's only sanctions against violent settlers and malign settlement organizations driving land theft and settler violence isn't only a slap in the face to millions of Palestinians enduring decades of terrorist pogroms, but erodes what little hope we have that Trump will succeed in establishing a Palestinian state," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. "Instead, Trump is kowtowing to his pro-Israel donor base who were apoplectic at efforts to hold extremist Israelis accountable and convinced him to revoke the sanctions."

Since President Biden issued EO 14115, DAWN had submitted detailed dossiers to the U.S. government, urging sanctions against specific individuals and entities directly involved in settler violence and the unlawful dispossession of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The Biden administration eventually sanctioned several of them. These include:

Mount Hebron Fund, which helped sanctioned settler Yinon Levi evade U.S. sanctions through a crowdfunding campaign

Tzav 9, the Israeli settler group responsible for attacking humanitarian aid convoys destined for civilians in Gaza, and destroying much of that critical aid

Yitzhak Levi Filant, the chief security officer of notoriously violent Israeli settlement Yitzhar, who has been implicated in numerous acts of violence against Palestinians

Amana and Binyanei Bar Amana, by far the largest Israeli settlement developer and its subsidiary, both of which support violent settlers and the forcible displacement of Palestinians

The removal of sanctioned persons from the SDN List underscores the failure of the U.S. government to uphold its limited-but-historic step toward accountability. Further highlighting the shortcomings of the program was the designation of Amana, which faced a mere 14 days of U.S. sanctions before being removed from the SDN List. This minimal application of American sanctions ultimately rendered the sanctions program symbolic, allowing Amana and other sanctioned entities to continue their activities without facing meaningful consequences.

"The new administration's failure to even review the merits of these designations before revoking the executive order is an appalling abdication of responsibility," said Mohsen Farshneshani, DAWN's sanctions counsel. "At the very least, it should have considered re-designating these entities under other relevant authorities, such as the Global Magnitsky sanctions that target serious human rights abusers."

DAWN will continue to submit sanctions referrals to the U.S. government, other governments, and international bodies to address the individuals and entities driving violence and dispossession in the West Bank. These efforts are essential to fostering the accountability necessary for a just and peaceful solution for Palestinians and Israelis.

For more information on DAWN's latest sanctions submission, read our January 17, 2025, report on KKL-JNF's active involvement in settler violence and the dispossession of Palestinian civilians here.

Masked Israeli settlers attack Palestinian olive farmers from the village of Hawara on fields near the settlement of Yitzhar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Source: Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

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