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

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Israeli 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 U.S. 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.”

The U.S. Treasury Department, in a statement announcing sanctions, accused Amana of supporting unauthorized Jewish settler outposts used to expand Jewish settlements and seize Palestinian land. The department described the group as “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,” the statement read.

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

The sanctions also target a subsidiary of Amana called "Binyanei Bar Amana," described by the Treasury as a company that builds and sells homes in Jewish 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 volunteer guards for Jewish settler farms 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, internationally known as the West Bank.

The United States 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 U.S. President Joe Biden to impose measures against Amana, as well as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The letter stated the Israeli 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 victory of President-elect Donald Trump earlier this month, leaders of the settler movement 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.”