WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (KUNA) -- More than 80 members of the US Congress sent a message to President Joe Biden on Thursday, urging him to impose sanctions on extremist members of the Israeli occupation government.
"With radical officials in the (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government continuing to enable settler violence and enact annexationist policies, it is clear that further sanctions are urgently needed," the lawmakers wrote. "The key individuals and entities that are destabilizing the West Bank - thereby also threatening the security of Israel and the broader region, and US national security as well - should be directly held accountable. The message that such actions are unacceptable from leaders, including within the Israeli government, "must be heard," the lawmakers stressed.
"Given their critical roles in driving policies that promote settler violence, weaken the Palestinian Authority, facilitate de facto and de jure annexation, and destabilize the West Bank, we urge you to sanction Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pursuant to Executive Order 14115. Government leaders instigating violence must be subject to US sanctions; those in leadership responsible for the lawlessness must be held to account.
"Israel is the United States' closest and most enduring democratic ally in the Middle East, and we remain completely committed to ensuring its long-term security, including by supporting a negotiated two-state solution," the lawmakers continued.
"Settler violence in the West Bank, incentivized by external organizations and even by extremist officials in the Netanyahu government, threatens the long- term strategic security of Israel and the region," they added. (end) asj.gb