Over 50 Members of the Knesset demanded in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that he raise the issue of US sanctions against settlers during his speech in the US Congress on Wednesday.
The MKs, led by the Land of Israel Caucus heads Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party), and Limor Son Harmelech (Otzma Yehudit), also recommended that the prime minister take with him on his trip leaders of West Bank settlements to “express the government’s dedication to the homeland and the unbreakable tie between the government and settlement [movement].”
Reports on Sunday said that the prime minister will meet with several mayors from the West Bank on Sunday evening, possibly due to the letter.
The MKs wrote that the economic sanctions against Israeli civilians and organizations expressed “blatant harm to Israeli sovereignty, to the longtime friendship between the two states, to the values of democracy which the US has always championed, and of course to the global struggle against terror, as not even one sanction was applied to members of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, who are involved neck-deep in terrorism.”
The”MKs added that they viewed with “further severity” rep” it’s that the US administration intended to apply sanctions to elected Israeli officials. The MKs were responding to reports that emerged on Saturday that the US planned to sanction far-right ministers MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over their actions in support of the settlement movement.
The letter included 55 signatures from Knesset members, nearly half of the 120-member Knesset. These included signatures from members of all coalition parties and the opposition party United Right.
Willing to pay the price on a personal level
Smotrich responded to the report on Sunday that applying sanctions to him would be a “miserable decision that stems from internal political needs of those who presume to lead the largest democracy in the world while acting undemocratically against a brave partner and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Smotrich said that while he was willing to “pay any price” on a personal level,” on a national level: “Applying sanctions to an elected official and senior government minister due to his democratic and national actions [carried out] with the authority and permission of his constituents is a critical blow to Israeli sovereignty and the relations between the states and will have difficult consequences in many fields.”
The discussion over sanctioning Smotrich and Ben-Gvir was held by the National Security Council at the White House this past week, as the Biden administration holds the two responsible for undermining security in the West Bank and leading the government there, according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, who cited three senior American officials on the matter.
The report indicated that the Biden administration was frustrated with the Israeli government for expanding Jewish settlements and weakening the Palestinian Authority, noting that some ministers were openly associated with extremist settler groups.
Ravid noted that the administration also believed the settlements were inconsistent with international law.
The meeting was convened at the White House following the KnessKnesset’ssion to advance the planning and construction of an additional 5,000 housing units in settlements and to legalize five outposts.
Maariv contributed to this report.