Targeted Israeli groups and individuals respond to latest US sanctions

(JNS) — The Biden administration announced a new round of sanctions against three Israeli entities and three individuals, pursuant to the president’s Feb. 1, 2024 Executive Order 14115, which targets Israelis accused of undermining “the foreign policy objectives of the United States.” 

Per the U.S. Department of State and in accordance with the E.O., “All property and interests in property of the designated persons described that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

One of those singled out for sanctions was Shabtai Koshlevsky, a founder and current vice president of the Hashomer Yosh organization, whose mission is to protect agricultural lands in Judea and Samaria, which itself was sanctioned by the Biden administration this past August. 

He told JNS he was still unsure how the sanctions would impact him. 

“If the sanctions affect my ability to function, or affect my bank account here in Israel, I expect my country to have my back,” he said.

“I’m a loyal and law-abiding Jewish citizen of the State of Israel, I expect Israel to let me continue working and back me and all of our citizens possibly impacted by this decision,” he added. 

According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, among the entities sanctioned are the Amana Development group and one of its subsidiaries, Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd., both of which the administration accuses of carrying out “destabilizing activities” in Judea and Samaria.

Amana is a leader in establishing towns, recruiting families and building homes in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights, Galilee, Negev and the former Jewish communities of Gush Katif in Gaza. 

Amana released a statement in response to the sanctions, saying, “The Amana movement has been working for decades to develop communities in the country in line with legal protocol and in cooperation with state institutions, all in the spirit of the vision of the founders of the Zionist movement. The horrific events of last fall [Oct. 7. 2023] clearly demonstrated the degree to which our communities are intertwined with the security of Israel, and the extent of the national interest in continuing with the establishment of communities in the country.”

The sanctions were the result of “unfounded slander” by “extreme, hostile entities” and had “no factual basis,” the statement continued.

“Let us remind you that development in Judea and Samaria has already endured years of harsh rulings, including freezes in development, yet the communities have emerged stronger. The same will happen this time. We are confident that with the correct and necessary action by the Israeli government [and] the incoming government in Washington will remove all sanctions and we will resume our work to realize the Zionist vision, as it is written, ‘But as much as they would afflict them, so did they multiply.’ (Exodus 1:12),” it concluded. 

Attorney Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas-Israel, also believes the incoming Trump administration will lift the sanctions. 

He told JNS on Tuesday: “As I predicted, the Biden administration is going all-out to use the E.O. 14115 to impose more and more sanctions on Israelis, like the three companies and individuals sanctioned yesterday. They will continue to do so in my view up until Jan. 20.”

These sanctions could potentially target sitting government ministers, he added.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn. 3rd District) released a statement applauding the sanctioning of Amana. In October, DeLauro along with 86 of her colleagues penned a letter to Biden calling for sanctions against Amana and the Regavim Movement, as well as against Israeli Cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, whom they accused of “instigating violence and instability in the West Bank, endangering any prospect for peace in the region.”

In response, Regavim called the letter “an affront to free speech and an insult to civil society activism, the most basic elements of democracy.”

The other three entities/individuals facing U.S. sanctions include the Hebron Hills-based Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD and its head Itamar Yehuda Levi, involved in the construction of utility projects in Judea and Samaria, along with Zohar Sabah, the owner of a farm near Jericho, in the Jordan Valley.