US sanctions major Israeli settler organization over alleged ties to settler violence

US remains 'committed to fighting increasing extremist settler violence'

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The U.S. treasury department announced sanctions against Israeli the settler organization Amana, and several individuals on Monday night, alleging they were connected to violence against Palestinians.

The statement called Amana “a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement,” while State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the group “maintains ties to a number of individuals previously sanctioned by the US government, and it has helped establish dozens of illegal settler outposts and directly engage(s) in the dispossession of private land owned by Palestinians.”

Amana provides support to unauthorized settler outposts that are used to expand Jewish settlements and seize Palestinian land, the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions, calling the group “a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement.”

“More broadly, Amana strategically uses farming outposts, which it supports through financing, loans, and building infrastructure, to expand settlements and seize land,” it said.

Amana has previously been sanctioned for similar reasons by the United Kingdom and Canada.

The sanctions also target a subsidiary of Amana called Binyanei Bar Amana, described by the Treasury as a company that builds and sell homes in Israeli settlements and settler outposts.

Additional sanctions were declared against the Eyal Harei Yehuda Company, and the individuals Itamar Yehuda Levi (who owns Eyal Harei Yehuda), Shabtai Koshlevsky and Zohar Sabah.

Koshlevsky is a leader of Hashomer Yosh, a group that provides settler farms with volunteer guards and was designated in a previous round of sanctions.

According to the State Department, Sabah threatened Palestinians and took part in violent attacks against them throughout Judea and Samaria.

The U.S. remains “committed to fighting increasing extremist settler violence,” Miller said, adding that the Biden administration sanctioned 33 entities and individuals over the past 10 months.

“There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians. Period,” said Miller. “We are committed to working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to de-escalate violence in the West Bank, which has cost the lives of too many Israeli and Palestinian civilians.”

The latest sanctions followed a letter signed by 90 U.S. lawmakers, urging President Biden to impose measures against Amana, as well as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The letter said the ministers are “driving policies that promote settler violence, weaken the Palestinian Authority, facilitate de facto and de jure annexation, and destabilize the West Bank.”

Following the election of Donald Trump, settler leaders said a “golden age of settlement” would now begin. Israel Gantz, head of the Yesha Council, said that only annexing those areas would provide “true peace.”

“The entire region is waiting for policies that will bring about stability and true peace,” Gantz said. “The path to there goes through the application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”