Historically, the US government has imposed sanctions on private citizens and government officials of other countries. Recently, with the continued attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in West Bank the US government decided to sanction some Israelis who are responsible for the violence. Last week, US media sources reported that the administration of President Joe Biden is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, due to the deterioration of the security situation in the occupied West Bank.
Reacting to the news, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has described US efforts to impose sanctions on him over settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank as a “fatal blow to Israeli sovereignty.”
“Imposing US sanctions on an elected official and a senior minister is a fatal blow to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the two countries,” said Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party.
“Washington’s efforts to impose sanctions on me stem from the domestic political goals of those who claim to lead the largest democracy in the world,” he added.
Smotrich claimed that his duty was to strengthen Tel Aviv’s grip on parts of the homeland in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank) and prevent the establishment of a state that would endanger Israel’s existence.
Of note, this week the International Court of Justice issued a ruling that Israel's activities in West Bank and Jerusalem are illegal, must be stopped, and Palestinians harmed by these activities must be compensated.
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