What happened
The U.S. Treasury Department Monday imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel's largest settlement development organization, and its Binyanei Bar Amana subsidiary, calling the groups "a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement" and accusing them of supporting growing settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Who said what
Amana has "established dozens of illegal settler outposts and directly engaged in dispossession of private land owned by Palestinians in its support of settlers," said the State Department, which separately sanctioned three companies and three people "for their roles in violence targeting civilians" or property crimes.
Barring Amana from conducting business with Americans or accessing U.S.-held assets was "potentially the most significant sanction" yet under an executive order President Joe Biden issued in February, Haaretz said. The Amana sanctions were "an earthquake for the settlement project," Eitay Mack, a human rights lawyer who spent years pushing for sanctioning West Bank settlers, said to The Associated Press.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Amana is a "well-established decades-old group that has close ties with Israeli leadership," the AP said. Mack and nearly 90 congressional Democrats have urged Biden to also impose sanctions on far-right, pro-settler Israeli Cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
What next?
Biden's West Bank sanctions "could be quickly reversed under President-elect Donald Trump, whose incoming administration is expected to be pro-settler," Reuters said.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
‘Mental health care is health care’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
‘We must empower young athletes with the knowledge to stay safe’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How Benjamin Netanyahu shaped Israel in his own imageThe Explainer He has seldom been personally popular, but ‘King Bibi’ is an exceptionally shrewd operator
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
Why are Trump's health rumors about more than just presidential fitness?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Extended absences and unexplained bruises have raised concerns about both his well-being and his administration's transparency
