U.S.: Seize 'Jewish Power' and Other Extremist Websites Promoting Violence Against Palestinians

(Washington, D.C., September 4, 2024): The Departments of Treasury and Justice should seize four web domains owned by sanctioned Israeli extremist Benzion Gopstein, including the official website of the Kahanist political party Jewish Power, because they are promoting violence and extremism against Palestinians, said DAWN.

On September 3, DAWN sent the departments detailed evidence about these websites' ties to extremist, violent, and destabilizing ideologies and organizations, Gopstein's ownership of the sites, and the provision of DNS services to the websites by Cloudflare, a U.S. company.

"The Biden administration should seize these U.S.-serviced websites owned by a sanctioned Israeli because they are propagating grotesque hatred and violence against Palestinians and fueling the unprecedented, daily Israeli atrocities we are witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank," said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at DAWN. "Seizing these assets will send a powerful message that our country will act against sanctioned individuals and entities spreading the most malign, hateful ideologies."

The U.S. government can block and seize assets owned or controlled by sanctioned Israelis, as well as entities propagating violence and hatred in the West Bank, pursuant to Executive Order 14115, which targets Israeli violence in the West Bank. To date, the U.S. has sanctioned 22 Israeli settlers and entities, but has not made public any seizure or blocking of assets of those sanctioned individuals and entities. 

"Seizing the Jewish Power party's website, which is serviced by a U.S. company, would send a strong signal that the U.S. will punish even political parties in the Israeli government," said Omer-Man. "Disrupting the promotion of political violence against Palestinians, particularly by parties in the Israeli government, is the only way to have any meaningful impact on settler violence."

Gopstein, whom the United States sanctioned on April 19, 2024 for his extremist activities, has continued to propagate hate and violence through four websites he continues to control. The websites are subject to U.S. jurisdiction because all four use Cloudflare, a U.S. company, for DNS services. Each of these websites has played an important role in promoting extremism and hatred against Palestinians:

1. "ozma-yeudit.co.il" is the official website of the Jewish Power political party in Israel, headed by Itamar Ben Gvir, which advocates for the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and supports violent settlers. Gopstein was previously a candidate for Knesset on the Jewish Power slate but was disqualified by the Israeli Supreme Court, which stated in its decision that he "systematically incites racism against the Arab public." Gopstein is listed as the registered holder of the domain name of the website "ozma-yeudit.co.il" by the Israel Internet Association. The website's nameservers point to Cloudflare servers.
2. "leava.co.il" is the official website of Gopstein's Lehava organization, which the United States sanctioned on July 11, 2024 for "[involvement] in acts or threats of violence against Palestinians, often targeting sensitive or volatile areas.." Gopstein is listed as the registered holder of the website's domain name by the Israel Internet Association. Its nameservers point to Cloudflare servers.
3. "rabbikahane.org" is a Gopstien-owned website dedicated to the violent and hateful teachings and values espoused by Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder and leader of the Kach organization, which both Israel and the United States designated as a terrorist organization. The current registered holder of this domain is not publicly available on the ICANN website, having been made private, but the website previously listed Gopstein as the registered holder, as can be seen by accessing historical DNS information on "WHOXY".
4. "rabbikahane.co.il", linked to from "rabbikahane.org", is an ecommerce site that sells books written by designated terrorist organization leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Gopstein is listed as the registered holder of the domain name of this website by the Israel Internet Association. Its nameservers point to Cloudflare servers. The website appears to be accepting transactions when accessed from a U.S. IP address, and is using credit card processor "Nedarim Plus" to process transactions.

In addition to seizing these four web domains, the U.S. government should take further steps to ensure that U.S. companies like Cloudflare do not inadvertently—or knowingly—provide services to sanctioned violent Israeli settlers or to websites promoting violence and hatred against Palestinians. To do so, Treasury and other U.S. government agencies should provide even more specific guidance to U.S. companies and banks about how to identify sanctioned entities and ensure they do not provide them with material support or access to the U.S. banking system, as well as providing penalties for those who do not comply.

"A multi-billion dollar company like Cloudflare should have a comprehensive compliance program and screening tools that swiftly flag potential sanctioned interests within its service network," said Mohsen Farshneshani, sanctions advisor at DAWN.

2024 Benzion Gopstein and Lehava Sanctions 

On February 1, 2024, President Biden issued an Executive Order "Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank," which declared extremism and violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank a threat to US national security interests and foreign policy. The executive order defines a range of activities, including providing funding, goods or services to designated individuals, that can result in an individual or entity being added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

On April 19, 2024, the Department of State announced that it had designated and placed sanctions on Gopstein, the leader of Lehava, an extremist organization that sprung from the outlawed Kach movement of Rabbi Meir Kahane, which uses violence and intimidation against inter-racial couples in Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 

The State Department explained its reasons for the sanctioning Gopstein:

…for being a leader or official of an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or participating in an act of violence or threat of violence targeting civilians, affecting the West Bank, relating to his tenure, as well as for being a leader or official of an entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, actions—including directing, enacting, implementing, enforcing, or failing to enforce policies—that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank, relating to his tenure.

DAWN has previously submitted sanctions nominations for 12 violent Israeli settlers and entities. The Treasury Department and State Department have sanctioned five of the settlers and entities nominated by DAWN.