The US has announced that it will impose visa bans on Israeli settlers who are involved in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The move is seen as a rare punitive measure against Israel, a close ally of Washington.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the decision after warning Israel last week that President Joe Biden’s administration would be taking action over the attacks. Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but department spokesman Matthew Miller said the bans would be implemented starting Tuesday and would cover “dozens” of settlers and their families, with more to come if the settler violence continued. He wouldn’t give a number and refused to identify any of those targeted due to confidentiality reasons.
The West Bank, one of the territories where Palestinians are seeking statehood, has seen a rise in violence in recent months due to the expansion of Jewish settlements and a nearly decade-long deadlock in U.S.-sponsored peace efforts.
The violence in the West Bank has escalated in recent months, reaching a more-than-15-year high this year, according to UN figures. The situation worsened after Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to a deadly attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7. Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostage in what was the worst day in Israel’s history. Israel retaliated by bombing and invading Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people.
The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US wanted Israel to take action, but was prepared to take its own steps. “Washington wanted Israel to prosecute perpetrators but had yet to see such a step. The bans could come in the next few weeks,” the official said.
The US president, Joe Biden, has also expressed his frustration with the situation in the West Bank, saying it must stop. In a Washington Post opinion piece in November, he wrote: “I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”
Tuesday’s decision comes only a month after Israel gained entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, enabling its citizens to enter the U.S. without a visa. The individuals affected by this decision will no longer qualify for the program, and those currently holding U.S. visas will have them rescinded.
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