Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, systemic violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West bank, has been rapidly increasing. That is the finding of Brussels-based International Crisis Group, a global non-profit, non-governmental organization.
On October 1, the United States Department of State imposed sanctions on two Israeli individuals for their part in creating an environment of violence and instability, thus undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.
Eitan Yardeni has a history of violence against Palestinians. On several occasions, he joined groups that raided Palestinian villages, attacking Palestinians, ransacking their houses and stealing their possessions.
Avichai Suissa is the Chief Operating Officer and a director of Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outpost Meitarim Farm. Hashomer Yosh was designated by the United States in August 2024.
Both men were designated under Executive Order 14115. Yardeni was sanctioned for “being responsible for, being complicit in, or taking part in planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or participating in an act of violence or threat of violence targeting civilians, affecting the West Bank.”
Suissa was designated for being, or having been, a leader or official of Hashomer Yosh.
At the same time, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, designated Hilltop Youth, a loose-knit group of violent extremists who have repeatedly attacked Palestinians and destroyed Palestinian homes and property in the West Bank.
According to OFAC, Hilltop Youth “has devastated Palestinian communities and carried out killings, mass arson, and other so-called ‘price tag’ attacks:” destructive raids on Palestinians and their villages to, as they see it, impose a price for perceived efforts to hamper settlement construction. Hilltop Youth associates have vandalized churches and mosques, spray-painted hateful graffiti messages on Palestinian-owned property, and uprooted olive trees as part of an effort to intimidate Palestinians and to spread fear.
“The worsening violence and instability in the West Bank are detrimental to the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of violent organizations like Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States will continue to hold accountable the individuals, groups, and organizations that facilitate these hateful and destabilizing acts.”
