The United States government has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit challenging a Biden administration executive order that placed sanctions on Israeli citizens and organizations in the West Bank. The lawsuit, titled Texans for Israel v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, was filed to challenge Executive Order 14115, which was introduced as a response to reports of settler violence.
Settlement Details
As part of the June 3 agreement, the U.S. government stated it rejects any policy that would infringe on Israel’s sovereignty or specifically target private organizations and Israeli citizens living in the West Bank. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also issued a formal assurance that it will not take enforcement action against the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, including the group Texans for Israel, the Israeli civil-society organization Regavim, and several individuals, alleged the sanctions violated the First and Fifth Amendments by attempting to chill political speech critical of a two-state solution. Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project, which funded the litigation, said the settlement repudiates the idea that the presence of Jews in the region is illegal.
A sanctions program presented as targeting ‘violence’ was applied exclusively against Jews, including a mother of eight whose only ‘offense’ was leading peaceful protests,” Goldstein said in a release. “That is viewpoint discrimination, it is religious discrimination, and it is fundamentally un-American. The U.S. government has now categorically rejected any policy that targets Israeli citizens and private organizations in Judea and Samaria.
International Pressure Remains
While the U.S. has officially pulled back on these specific sanctions, international pressure remains. Over the last two weeks, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand have imposed their own coordinated sanctions on several Israeli individuals and entities.
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
