The United States on Friday sanctioned two entities accused of raising tens of thousands of dollars for extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
In a statement, U.S. Treasury Department officials said the two sanctioned entities — the Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich — generated $140,000 for settler Yinon Levi and $31,000 for settler David Chai Chasdai, respectively.
U.S. officials said they sanctioned Levi and Chasdai in February in connection with West Bank violence — Levi for leading a group of hard-line settlers who assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burning their fields and destroying their property; Chasdai for initiating and leading a riot that involved torching vehicles and buildings in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.
"Such acts by these organizations undermine the peace, security and stability of the West Bank," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. "We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable."
Also sanctioned Friday was Lehava founder Ben-Zion Gopstein, whose followers have engaged in violence in the West Bank, including assaulting Palestinian civilians.
"We are deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank in recent days," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement Friday.
Miller added that the U.S. was calling on Israel "to take all appropriate measures to prevent attacks by violent extremist settlers and hold those responsible accountable."
The sanctions on the three entities will freeze all U.S. assets, prevent them from using the U.S. financial system, and ban Americans from working with them.
Some information for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
