Ahmed, a Palestinian shepherd, poses for a portrait in a hamlet in the South Hebron Hills, Friday, May 17, 2024. Ahmed spoke to AP on condition that only his first name be used, over fear of retaliation. He and other Palestinians in the West Bank say they face harassment and intimidation by Israeli settlers, some of whom have been sanctioned internationally.
But for sanctioned settlers, the implications didn’t last long, with communities donating money and holding fundraisers making tens of thousands of dollars. And Israeli, a far-right settler leader, said he’d “take care of the issue” of people being sanctioned, Levi’s father-in-law, Noam Federman, told AP.
In March, even the Israeli army complained about the extent to which the government intervenes on settlers’ behalf. An internal document, seen by AP and, said the army is routinely denied authorization to act against illegal building by Israelis and regularly authorized to act against Palestinians.Three sanctioned settlers — Levi, Federman and Elisha Yered — told AP the measures against them were, at most, an annoyance.
U.S. officials sanctioned him in February over accusations that from his outpost, he led settlers who assaulted Palestinians and Bedouins, threatened them, burned their fields and destroyed property. But Levi said he could buy whatever he wanted — he wouldn’t give specifics but said it wasn’t limited to “food or diapers.”
“Sanctions against government officials have cast a chilling effect in other countries, causing firms to shy away from doing business in those places,” she said., who lives in the Kedumim settlement and was given special powers over settlement policies as part of the governing coalition agreement, told Israeli media in April that he’d take steps to help sanctioned settlers.
“I’m not afraid of sanctions,” Weiss said. “The truth of the matter is that the United States wants us to be in Gaza because the United States does not want jihad to rule the world.”Eight Palestinians in two hamlets in the South Hebron Hills told AP they’re still being pushed off their land, with several alleging Levi has threatened them since being sanctioned.
In recent years, settlers have changed land-grabbing tactics, anti-occupation researcher Dror Etkes said: Rather than establishing residential settlements, they’ve turned to farming outposts, which use more land for grazing animals and spark more violence because they’re spread out, with high visibility.