{"id":286642,"date":"2025-01-27T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=286642"},"modified":"2025-01-26T06:51:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T06:51:59","slug":"trump-lifts-settler-sanctions-west-bank-violence-explodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/01\/trump-lifts-settler-sanctions-west-bank-violence-explodes\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Lifts Settler Sanctions, West-Bank Violence Explodes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Israeli military operation in the West Bank, 3 Jul 2023.
(IDF Spokesperson\u2019s Unit, Wikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

The wave of Israeli attacks in the West Bank this week following Trump\u2019s lifting of settler sanctions and the role of U.S. donors in enabling messianic-settler genocidal extremism. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

24 Jan 2025 <\/em>– In his first day in office, Donald Trump lifted<\/a> all sanctions previously placed on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a political move that coincided with a series of violent attacks by Israeli settlers targeting Palestinians that same night.<\/p>\n

While the president has publicly committed to combating violent extremism, extremist settler groups continue to finance their activities through American charities.<\/p>\n

On Monday night, with the backing of the Israeli military, settler groups launched a series of violent assaults on residents in the West Bank. The most severe attacks occurred in two villages near Qalqilya, where masked settlers set fires and fired indiscriminately.<\/p>\n

Amid the chaos, Israeli soldiers deployed tear gas against villagers attempting to flee, leaving 21 people injured<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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2008 map of a portion of the West Bank showing Qalqilya and Hableh enclaves. (CIA derivative work, Zero0000, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Amidst the wave of violence, an Israeli police officer mistakenly shot two masked settlers, believing them to be Palestinians. One was killed instantly. In the aftermath, Israeli authorities imposed a complete lockdown on the West Bank, leaving civilians stranded in their cars and on the streets.<\/p>\n

The following day, Israel announced a major military operation<\/a> targeting the northern West Bank, beginning with an assault on the Jenin Refugee Camp.<\/p>\n

Defense Minister Israel Katz dubbed the campaign \u201cOperation Iron Wall<\/a>,\u201d vowing to crush the growing number of anti-occupation resistance groups that have expanded in the region since 2021.<\/p>\n

The operation, Katz declared, would draw upon Israel\u2019s \u201cmethod of repeated raids in Gaza\u201d to achieve its objectives.<\/p>\n

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Katz, left, in November 2024, with his predecessor Yoav Galant. (Spokesperson and Public Relations Division of the Ministry of Defense of Israel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On Jan. 17, the Washington-based advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) released a report<\/a> accusing Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and its subsidiaries of funding illegal settlement expansion and encouraging violence against Palestinian civilians. According to the report, the Israeli-registered entities use affiliates in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. to raise money.<\/p>\n

DAWN has called on the U.S. government to impose sanctions on the organizations it accuses of funding Israeli settler extremism. However, they are far from the only entities using American donations to support such activities.<\/p>\n