US Levies Sanctions on Israeli Group in West Bank

The U.S. Department of State in Washington on Aug. 12, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The United States announced on Aug. 28 that it had sanctioned an individual and a group for allegedly contributing to violence in the West Bank.

The West Bank—also known as Judea and Samaria—consists of Israeli and Palestinian neighborhoods. It has a history of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Additionally, according to the U.S. State Department, Israelis there have sought to block vehicles seeking to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

The United States penalized Hashomer Yosh, a group founded in 2013 that helps farmers in the West Bank.

“Our assistance to these farmers is primarily thanks to the volunteers—individuals and groups, young and old, who come to guard at night against thieves or to lend a hand and help out with various tasks on the farms,” the group stated on its website.

“Aside from the support via manpower, the organization also helps by providing agricultural and security equipment and responding in times of emergency.”

According to the State Department, Hashomer Yosh is being sanctioned for allegedly giving material support to a farm already penalized by the United States and its owner, who is also under sanctions for alleged violence.

The United States acted against Meitarim Farm in July for allegedly “expanding into plots of land and dispossessing the areas from local Palestinian families through activities aimed at expelling residents,” according to a July 11 statement from the department.

The farm’s owner, Yinon Levi, was sanctioned in February for allegedly creating “an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank,” having “assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property,” the State Department said in a Feb. 1 statement.

“After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning,” the department said in an Aug. 28 statement.

“The volunteers also provided support by grazing the herds and purporting to ‘guard’ the outposts of U.S.-designated individuals.”

Hashomer Yosh is also accused of giving material support to two other individuals punished by the United States—Neriya Ben Pazi and Zvi Bar Yosef.

Ben Pazi was sanctioned on March 14 for allegedly attacking Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq in August 2023, according to a March 14 statement from the State Department.

Bar Yosef was also penalized at that time for allegedly having “engaged in repeated violence and attempts to engage in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” it states.

Along with Hashomer Yosh, the United States sanctioned Yitzhak Filant, security coordinator for the West Bank neighborhood of Yitzhar.

“Although Filant’s role is akin to a security or law enforcement officer, he has engaged in malign activities outside the scope of his authority,” the State Department’s Aug. 28 statement reads.

Filant is accused of leading a group of armed Israelis “to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands,” according to the statement.

In a statement, Hashomer Yosh said it “strongly condemns the government’s decision” and calls it a fundamentally wrong political decision.

“The organization operates according to the law and supports agriculture in the entire country. Sanctions on the guard are the same as sanctions on the State of Israel. Together we will stand with them. Together we will support Hebrew agriculture in the Land of Israel,” it states.

A contact for Filant could not be found.