Democrats urge Biden to sanction Smotrich, Ben-Gvir over West Bank violence

Nearly 90 Democratic lawmakers have urged US President Joe Biden to sanction members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government over anti-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank, according to a letter.

Urging Biden to send a message to US partners before he leaves office, the members of Congress said Israeli cabinet members Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had incited violence by Israeli illegal settlers in the occupied territory.

"We write to express our deep concern about the rise in settler violence, settlement expansion, and measures adopted to weaken the Palestinian Authority and otherwise destabilise the West Bank," they said in the letter.

The letter, signed by 17 senators and 71 House members, said Israeli settlers have carried out over 1,270 recorded attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, averaging more than three violent attacks per day.

The letter was dated October 29 but made public on Thursday because the lawmakers had not had a response from the White House, three of the members of Congress said.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Democratic House of Representatives members Rosa DeLauro and Sean Casten, who are leading the letter effort, told reporters that Biden has the authority to impose sanctions under an existing executive order.

Doing so would send a message not just to Israel and the Palestinians, but also to US allies elsewhere in the world, that the United States will push back on humanitarian issues, they said.

"We think it's more important than ever that President Biden right now states that the United States is not going to be a rubber stamp to the Netanyahu government's extreme actions," Van Hollen said.

West Bank annexation

The United States has for decades backed a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine and urged Israel not to expand settlements. However, Washington hasn't taken a step to make it happen.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, and most of the international community deems the Israeli settlements there illegal.

Smotrich, who also wields a Defence Ministry supervisory role for settlers as part of his coalition deal with Netanyahu, said this week he hoped Israel would extend sovereignty into the occupied West Bank in 2025.

The letter, which was sent before Smotrich's remarks, said that he "has seized the opportunity to take steps to advance illegal and dangerous annexation of the West Bank."

"We urge you to sanction Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pursuant to Executive Order 14115. Government leaders instigating violence must be subject to US sanctions; those in leadership responsible for the lawlessness must be held to account," the letter said.