Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Biden: Meet These Key Demands Before Your Term Ends! ~~ and ~~ Biden Officials Sanction Israeli Settler Groups — But Not Politicians Backing West Bank Violence

 https://www.codepink.org/bidenlist

and 

https://truthout.org/articles/biden-admin-sanctions-israeli-west-bank-settlers-but-not-leaders-arming-them/

(updated with second link, NB)

~~ recommended by collectivist action ~~


As President Biden’s term comes to a close, the stakes for U.S. foreign policy have never been higher. With a Donald Trump White House approaching and Senator Marco Rubio poised to become our next Secretary of State, a continued legacy of violence and imperialism awaits. Rubio’s foreign policy is callous, reckless, and devoid of diplomacy. We know what this kind of approach means for Cuba, Palestine and beyond. We must act before it's too late.

In Latin America, U.S. or U.S.-backed coups and sanctions have impoverished communities and torn families apart. In Palestine, U.S.-backed genocide and occupation have been fatal for countless families and communities. These policies don’t just sow violence and suffering, they perpetuate a cycle of devastation that impacts millions. Bold action is urgently needed to break this cycle. President Biden still has the opportunity to act before his term ends. The least he can do to counter his legacy as “Genocider in Chief” is to put up the safeguards now to prevent further devastation and set the course towards peace and accountability. 

ACT NOW: Sign the petition below to add your name to our list of demands for Biden in the remainder of his term. Once the signature goal is reached, we’ll mail the petition straight to the White House!

We, the undersigned, are calling on you to meet the demands listed below before your term as president ends. With a Donald Trump White House approaching and Senator Marco Rubio poised to become our next Secretary of State, we are concerned that a continued legacy of violence and imperialism awaits. Rubio’s foreign policy is callous, reckless, and devoid of diplomacy. We know what this kind of approach means for Cuba, Palestine and beyond. You must act before it's too late. 

In Latin America, U.S. or U.S.-backed coups and sanctions have impoverished communities and torn families apart. In Palestine, U.S.-backed genocide and occupation have been fatal for countless families and communities. These policies don’t just sow violence and suffering, they perpetuate a cycle of devastation that impacts millions. Your bold action is urgently needed to break this cycle. 

We urge you to meet these demands before your term ends: 

  1. Remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and lift sanctions that have economically crippled Cuba and infringed on the the daily lives of millions of Cubans.
  2. Enforce the Leahy Law to prevent U.S. arms from being sent to Israel to commit human rights violations, and impose a complete arms embargo on Israel. Reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and ensure aid reaches the millions of people starving in Gaza. 
  3. Re-engage with Iran diplomacy and lift sanctions on Iran to reduce the risk of further escalation in the region. 
  4. Increase diplomacy with China by cooperating on climate change efforts. This would set a necessary international precedent to save our planet as well as nurture the U.S.’s relationship with China. 
  5. End weapons to Ukraine and push for a diplomatic solution to the war. 

President Biden, you still have the opportunity to act before your term ends. Put up the safeguards now to prevent further devastation and set the course towards peace and accountability or risk being cemented in history as the U.S. “Genocider in Chief.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Biden Officials Sanction Israeli Settler Groups — But Not Politicians Backing West Bank Violence

Democrats previously urged Biden to sanction top Israeli officials for their backing of violence in the West Bank.

Published
A member of the Israeli security forces walks past a bulldozer demolishing a house belonging to Palestinians, located in the area C, which lies under Israel's military control since 1967, in Yatta village in the southern area of the occupied West Bank, on November 6, 2024.
A member of the Israeli security forces walks past a bulldozer demolishing a house belonging to Palestinians, located in the area C, which lies under Israel's military control since 1967, in Yatta village in the southern area of the occupied West Bank, on November 6, 2024.

Advocates for Palestinian rights are criticizing the Biden administration after it announced that it is issuing sanctions against settler groups and individuals responsible for carrying out violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank — but is not meting out any punishment for the top Israeli officials who are organizing and funding the settler attacks.

On Monday, the Treasury Department announced that it is sanctioning Amana, which officials said is the largest company involved in settlement and outpost development in the occupied West Bank and plays a key role in the Israeli settlement movement.

Concurrently, the State Department announced that it is sanctioning three companies and individuals involved in building settlements or committing violence against Palestinians, including construction company Eyal Hari Yehuda and owner Itamar Yehuda Levi; Shabtai Koshlevsky, a leader of a group previously sanctioned for violent land theft; and Zohar Sabah, who has “engaged in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians,” including in an attack on an elementary school in September.

“The United States, along with our allies and partners, remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to facilitate these destabilizing activities, which threaten the stability of the West Bank, Israel, and the wider region,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, in a statement.

The sanctions were carried out as part of a Biden executive order calling for sanctions on those threatening safety in the West Bank, as international bodies have said that Israel’s settlement movement in the West Bank violates international humanitarian law.

Though the sanctions may ease some of the fierce violence and repression faced by Palestinians in the West Bank, which Israelis have escalated amid the genocide in Gaza, advocates for Palestinian rights have said that the sanctions don’t go far enough in targeting the true source of Israel’s violence in West Bank.

Last week, 80 Democrats released a letter in which they urged the Biden administration to issue sanctions for those involved in settler violence, including organizations like Amana. They also pushed for sanctions on Israeli cabinet members like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, two of the most extremist members of Israel’s government, who have been directing Israel’s plan to annex the occupied West Bank.

“Given their critical roles in driving policies that promote settler violence, weaken the Palestinian Authority, facilitate de facto and de jure annexation, and destabilize the West Bank, we urge you to sanction Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,” the lawmakers wrote. “Government leaders instigating violence must be subject to U.S. sanctions; those in leadership responsible for the lawlessness must be held to account.”

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are instrumental to Israeli violence in the West Bank. Smotrich is the engineer of the plan to annex the West Bank and just last week issued an order for preparations to annex the West Bank in anticipation of Donald Trump’s presidency. And Ben-Gvir’s ministry has purchased weapons to give to private settlement groups in order to continue their rampages across the region.

Lawmakers leading the letter effort said that they released it to the public because the Biden administration had not responded to their plea — which is now more urgent with the incoming Trump administration likely to rescind any sanctions against Israeli settlers.

Advocates said that Monday’s move means little without sanctions targeting the Israeli government leaders involved in fomenting violence.

“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu erases the West Bank from maps, Israeli ministers plan to annex it, the state supports violence against Palestinians — which [the administration] fail[s] to call ethnic cleansing — and you’re urging the people causing all this to take action against it?” said Middle East commentator and writer Assal Rad, in response to a State Department post supposedly urging Israel to ”take action against those causing human suffering” in the West Bank.

“These PR stunts aren’t fooling anyone,” Rad went on.

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