Four Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank have received sanctions from US President Joe Biden, who approved a broad executive order authorising the sanctions on Thursday, saying violence in the West Bank had reached “intolerable levels”.
According to the sanctions, the four accused Israeli citizens will be banned from accessing all US property, assets and the American financial system.
The rare sanctions against the Israeli citizens were imposed as Biden travelled to the state of Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population that has expressed concerns over Biden’s support for Israel.
The Arab American Institute, an advocacy group, earlier said that since the start of the conflict, support by Arab Americans for the Democratic Party has plummeted from 59% in 2020 to just 17%.
On Thursday, a senior official in the Biden administration said the president had consistently shown dismay with Israel about violence by settlers.
The executive order stipulates how the US will respond to further attacks in the West Bank and shows a more strident measure compared to visa restrictions it imposed on some individuals late last year.
