The Israeli army announces the killing of the head of Hezbollah’s anti-armor missile system in the Al-Hujair area

One of Israel’s settlement leaders said they are closely watching the US presidential elections, expressing confidence that if Donald Trump wins, he will end what they see as control. -illegal bonds imposed on them, because of attacks on the Palestinians.

At a time when the world’s attention is focused on the war in Gaza, increasing Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and land seizures have raised concern among some Western Israeli allies.

The United States and other countries have frozen assets and imposed banking restrictions on settlers, settlement centers and violent groups, and urged Israel to do more to stop the attacks, which they say are devastating efforts to end the conflict.

Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council, which includes settlements in the West Bank and is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described the sanctions as “an obstruction of a legal system Israel which could cause problems for the government in the end.”

Gans said in an interview with Reuters: “If Trump wins the elections, there will be no sanctions…

A spokesman for Netanyahu’s office did not comment when asked about the sanctions, but senior Trump campaign adviser Brian Hughes said: “It will not restore peace and stability to the Middle East for anyone but the President Trump’s seat.”

Trump receives Netanyahu in Palm Beach last July (dpa)

Most of the world’s countries believe that the Israeli settlements established on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war are illegal according to international law, and say that their expansion hinders the only way to achieve lasting peace, which is the establishment of a Palestinian state with the necessities of life alongside a secure Israel.

In 2019, the Trump administration at the time abandoned the illegal settlement position, which the United States had long accepted, but President Joe Biden returned to accept this position.

Janz said the sanctions imposed on settlers are unfair, as they are not matched by sanctions on violent Palestinians, even though Washington tightened long-standing sanctions on groups Palestinian armed forces following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“The sanctions are hurting families and farms,” ​​Gans said, referring to agricultural settlements in the West Bank. Palestinians say these settlements are already on prime land. to pluck from them, and that they are on the way to catch more.

A group affiliated with the Palestinian Authority said: “20 Palestinians have been killed this year in settler attacks, in addition to the hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis reported killed in the West Bank, with Israel raiding terrorists.”

The tax includes civilians and others involved in battles.

Kamala Harris, US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, said: “Anti-settlers must be held accountable for acts of violence, but she emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself.” Her campaign team has not yet responded to a request for comment on Janz’s statements.

Ganz is the chairman of the Yesha Council, which has overall responsibility for more than 500,000 people who live in the settlements, just over 5 percent of Israel’s population. Data from the Yesha Council showed that this number increased from around 374,000 people living in the settlements in 2013.

Many settlers believe that the Jews have a divine right to live in the lands they call the biblical name of Judah and Samaria.

Some of them in Israel’s ruling coalition, the most extreme in its history, support the expansion of settlements and eventually annex most of the Palestinian land.

Britain said earlier this month it was considering imposing sanctions on Israel’s most powerful public figures, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, after they said that violent settlers were heroes and that starving Palestinians would be justified. ” Smotrich replied: “These comments were taken out of context.”

Gans said: “States have no right to interfere with Israeli democracy.” He said: “When you sanction ministers, you intend to change the elections here (results) and change what people want here.”