The UK issues version of Biden’s anti-settler order, sanctions four Israelis

The UK is targeting residents of Judea and Samaria it alleges ‘have violently attacked Palestinians’ in the ‘occupied territories.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron took a page out of US President Joe Biden’s playbook and decided to enact anti-settler sanctions against four Israelis accused of violence against Palestinians.

The UK is targeting residents of Judea and Samaria it alleges “have violently attacked Palestinians” in the “occupied territories.”

The Foreign office said it would impose “financial and travel restrictions” on those named.

The statement from the UK Foreign Office identifies Levi and Moshe Sharvit who “have in recent months used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities,” according to the statement.

It also names Zvi Bar Yosef, who is accused of threatening Palestinian families having a picnic and pointing a gun at them and Ely Federman who is alleged to have menaced Arab shepherds in the South of Hebron.

According to Hakol Hayehudi Federman is serving in the IDF, was injured in Gaza and returned to fight in Khan Younis.

Cameron said, “Today’s sanctions place restrictions on those involved in some of the most egregious abuses of human rights.”

He added, “We should be clear about what is happening here. Extremist Israeli settlers are threatening Palestinians, often at gunpoint, and forcing them off land that is rightfully theirs. This behavior is illegal and unacceptable.”

Cameron urged Israel to take stronger action to combat settler violence and claims that Israel “hasn’t followed through” on such requests in the past.

In early February, President Joe Biden signed an executive order singling out four Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria for financial and travel restrictions.

The order included farmer Yinon Levi as well as Shalom Zicherman, David Chai Hasdai and Ainan Tanjil.

According to the US State Department’s accusation, Levi “led a group of settlers who engaged in actions that created an atmosphere of fear in the territories.”

The accusation continues, “He regularly led groups of settlers to attack Palestinians and Bedouins, threatened them with further violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields and destroyed their property.”

Bank Leumi and the Postal Bank in Israel froze the accounts of some of the people named in Biden’s executive order.

anti-settler sanctionsDavid CameronJudea and SamariaSettlersUnited KingdomUnited States