Yitzhar settlement leaders Sukkot, Filant, and the administration at Od Yosef Chai fuel extremism, orchestrate settler violence and drive deadly attacks on neighboring West Bank villages
Updated on August 28: The U.S. government imposed sanctions on Yitzhak Levi Filant for directly contributing to violence and instability in the occupied Palestinian territory. The designation follows DAWN's submission of a detailed and comprehensive dossier containing evidence and documentation of Filant's long history of violence, including as a central institutional actor enabling the intimidation, assault, and forcible displacement of Palestinian communities near the settlement of Yitzhar.
(Washington, D.C., August 26, 2024) — The U.S. Departments of State and Treasury should impose sanctions on key figures and entities in the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, including the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva leadership, Member of Knesset Zvi Yedidia Sukkot and security officer Yitzhak Levy Filant, for promoting or participating in extremist violence against Palestinians and the seizure of Palestinian land, said DAWN today.
In its 23-page submission to the State and Treasury Departments, DAWN provides detailed and comprehensive evidence about how these Israeli leaders have directly contributed to violence and instability in the West Bank through ideologically motivated crimes against Palestinian civilians, including violent attacks on Palestinians and their homes and schools, and the dispossession and seizure of private Palestinian property. Sanctioning these de facto leaders of Yitzhar, a settlement notorious for originating dozens of acts of violence against Palestinians, would signal an escalation of pressure on Israeli authorities to combat the infrastructure of settler violence.
"If these sanctions are going to have any real meaning and impact, the Government should target not just a few 'bad apples' but the Israeli institutions and prominent leaders responsible for promoting the worst violence against Palestinians," said Mohsen Farshneshani, DAWN's sanctions advisor. "Sanctioning the leadership of the Yitzhar settlement, including a sitting member of Knesset, is necessary to disrupt the well-organized networks of state-sanctioned violence and impunity that terrorize Palestinians every single day."
On February 1, 2024, President Biden issued Executive Order 14115, "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 (SDN).
As detailed below, the individuals and entities DAWN is nominating for sanctions under the executive order include: the administration of the Od Yosef Chai (OYC) yeshiva, a religious institution that has promoted violent, supremacist, and extremist ideologies for decades, and whose staff and students often participate in violence against Palestinian civilians; Yitzhar's civilian security officer, Yitzhak Levy Filant, implicated in numerous incidents of violent against Palestinian civilians; and Member of Knesset and Yitzhar resident Zvi Sukkot, who has been involved in numerous incidents of extremist violence against Palestinians, including in the 2023 pogroms in Hawara.
- Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva: This religious institution, led by Rabbis Yitzchak Feivish Ginsburgh, Yitzhak Shapira, and Yosef Elitzur, has actively facilitated, supported, and promoted ideologically motivated crimes against Palestinian civilians while failing to implement policies to prevent, discourage or condemn such violence. OYC plays a significant role in fostering violence through its educational institutions and published materials, while also facilitating the unlawful dispossession of Palestinian property. Previously, the yeshiva had been shut down and lost its government funding for serving "as the headquarters out of which violent attacks against nearby Palestinian villages and security forces [were] launched." Between 2003 and 2024, Israeli authorities have indicted, charged or investigated numerous individuals associated with OYC, including Rabbis Ginsburgh, Shapira, and Elitzur, for inciting or participating in violence against Palestinians. Despite this, OYC has not taken any notable steps to condemn or distance itself from the violence emanating from Yitzhar, including that perpetrated by its own students. The institution's teachings and publications, including the controversial book "The King's Torah," have been widely recognized for promoting extremist ideologies associated with violence.
- Yitzhak Levy Filant: As Yitzhar's Civilian Security Officer (or "ravshatz"), Filant plays a central role in orchestrating violence against civilians in nearby Palestinian villages. Human rights groups, Israeli and Palestinian media, and eyewitnesses have documented over a dozen incidents of Filant's participation and leadership in violent assaults, shootings, threats at gunpoint, arson, and property destruction targeting Palestinian civilians between October 2019 and February 2024. In these incidents, Filant has either personally conducted or directed settler and military violence against Palestinian civilians, and in particular, those engaging in agriculture in the area. Most recently, on February 17, 2024, Filant and other settlers set up a makeshift roadblock outside the village of Asira al-Qibliya and forcibly removed three Palestinian civilians from a car, assaulted them, and threatened to burn the vehicle if they returned. As a security leader of the settlement, Filant also has failed to prevent, discourage, condemn, or stop other settlers from carrying out violence and threats of violence against Palestinians and their property.
- Zvi Sukkot: Member of Knesset Zvi Sukkot, a former OYC student and current resident of Yitzhar, has been involved in numerous incidents of extremist violence against Palestinians. Sukkot has openly acknowledged his past membership in the violent Hilltop Youth group and served as Yitzhar's spokesperson. He played a central role in escalating tensions that led to settler attacks on Palestinian civilians. His provocative actions on February 26, March 26, and October 6, 2023, directly contributed to settler pogroms in Hawara, resulting in the deaths of at least two civilians, injuries to more than 350 others, and the destruction of dozens of Palestinian homes, businesses, and hundreds of cars. For example, on February 26, Sukkot gave a speech and encouraged settlers to "take care of [this] nest of murderers", after which hundreds of them, many reportedly from Yitzhar, marched into Hawara to commence their violent rampage.
Sukkot has also acted to dispossess Palestinian civilians of their private property by leading and personally financing the 2021 establishment of the Evyatar outpost, which is adjacent to—and on land privately owned by—the Palestinian villages of Beita and Yatma. Furthermore, Israeli authorities have reportedly criminally investigated Sukkot multiple times between 2010 and 2017, including for a 2009 arson attack on a mosque in Yasuf. In 2012, Israeli authorities barred him from the West Bank for allegedly orchestrating covert and violent actions against Palestinians, but he was subsequently able to return and resumed his activities. Sukkot now resides in the Yitzhar settlement and serves as a member of Knesset, where he chairs a subcommittee with broad oversight responsibility for the administration of Israel's occupation in the West Bank.
"Targeting epicenters of violence like Yitzhar won't by itself lead to a shift in the Israeli policies that enable settler violence and protect violent settlers," said Michael Omer-Man, DAWNs director of research for Israel-Palestine. "Settler violence is state violence, and the only way to end it is to force the State of Israel to choose between violent expansionism and economic isolation."
The Urgent Need for Sanctions Against Settlement Leadership
Imposing sanctions on members of the de facto Yitzhar leadership under Executive Order 14115 should be part of the U.S. Government's broader strategy to curb Israeli settler violence that persists without effective law enforcement to protect Palestinian civilians. From 2005 to 2023, Israeli police and prosecutors closed 93.7% of investigations into such crimes without indictment. Only 6.6% resulted in indictments, and just 3% led to convictions, reflecting a systemic failure that has persisted for decades. The documented activities of the Yitzhar leadership—directing and participating in acts of violence, causing instability, and actively engaging in the dispossession of Palestinian property—clearly fall within the scope of Executive Order 14115. The U.S. government has previously sanctioned entities for similar activities, but it has not sustained or escalated its targeting efforts in ways that effectively drive changes within the settler movement or influence Israeli policies to end the phenomenon of settler violence. This highlights the need for a more aggressive and consistent approach to targeting and enforcement.
"The U.S. has previously sanctioned religious institutions for involvement in and recruiting for extremist activities that undermine American foreign policy interests.," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director. "Sanctioning OYC and its leadership, given their lengthy rap sheet of engaging in ideologically motivated crimes, is entirely consistent with those interests, as outlined in Executive Order 14115."
DAWN urges the U.S. government to explore additional legal avenues to hold these individuals and entities accountable, including war crimes prosecutions, targeting Israeli military and security bodies complicit in settler violence, as well as various civil actions to target individuals and sources of funding. Such measures are essential to compel those who perpetuate violence and instability in the West Bank to alter their behavior.
