In Michigan, Biden sanctions Israeli settlers as Arab American anger grows

The United States has imposed sanctions on four illegal Israeli settlers as President Joe Biden said violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank had reached intolerable levels.

Thursday's sanctions marked a rare US move against Israelis and came as Biden travelled to Michigan, where many in the sizable Arab American community have voiced anger over his support for Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza.

"The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and stability," Biden said in an executive order laying the groundwork for US actions.

The US State Department later announced sanctions against four Zionist settlers. Any assets they hold in the United States will be blocked, with Americans forbidden from financial transactions with them.

The four include David Chai Chasdai who is accused of leading a riot in the flashpoint town of Huwara in which Palestinian homes were torched and a Palestinian civilian killed.

Other targets included Yinon Levi, who is accused of leading a group of illegal settlers from the unauthorised outpost of Meitarim Farm who have assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property.

"Israel must do more to stop violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold accountable those responsible for it," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has repeatedly raised settler violence with Israel and leaves shortly on a new trip to the region.

Blinken warned against actions that jeopardise the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, an idea that is strongly opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government which includes illegal settler advocates and Zionist extremists.

Israel criticised the sanctions by its close ally.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel had prosecuted three of the four illegal settlers but that more action was needed.

"We will not hesitate to take additional actions as necessary," he said.

Muslims could swing 2024 election in Michigan

The action marks the first financial sanctions against illegal settlers although the Biden administration earlier announced that it would refuse visas for extremists involved in violence.

Biden has defended Israel's war in Gaza and resisted calls to seek a ceasefire despite high toll on Palestinian civilians as Israel pounds the besieged Gaza, killing at least 27, 019 people so far, most of them women and children.

Arab Americans largely backed Biden as he defeated Trump in 2020 and, while a small part of the national population, they could swing the election in Michigan, which is critical for the Democratic president's success in an expected rematch against Trump in November.

The mayor of one Detroit suburb has refused to see Biden on his trip due to his refusal to press Israel to end the military campaign.

Illegal Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the "most violent" year on record for settler attacks, according to the human rights group Yesh Din.

About 490,000 illegal settlers live among approximately three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

Biden has largely returned to historic US opposition to the settlements after Trump switched gears and declined to criticise the outposts, with his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, visiting an illegal settlement late in his term.

The Biden administration is also renewing calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, an idea strongly opposed by Netanyahu's far-right government.