By Hadiza Mohammed
President Donald Trump has lifted U.S. sanctions imposed by his predecessor on extremist settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a reversal praised by the Israeli far right.
Joe Biden’s administration had imposed sanctions on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been accused of not doing enough to stop the attacks, which escalated in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas fighters in southern Israel.
Just hours after being sworn in for a second term, Trump’s White House said the new president had rescinded Biden’s sanctions.
The far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich welcomed Trump’s decision.
“I sincerely thank President Donald Trump for his just decision to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against settlers and activists in right-wing organizations,’’ he wrote on X.
“These sanctions were a severe and blatant foreign intervention in Israel’s internal affairs and an unjustified violation of democratic principles and the mutual respect that should guide relations between friendly nations.’’
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the former national security minister, called Trump’s cancellation of the sanctions “historic.”
