Tzav 9 protesting
Tzav 9 protestingSpokesman

Embarrassment for the US government: After announcing sanctions against two leaders of Tzav 9, it was discovered that the sanctions were mistakenly imposed against an Israeli citizen with a name similar to one of the leaders of the Tzav 9 organization.

Aviad Sarid from Revava was surprised to discover that sanctions were imposed on him, even though he is not connected at all to Tzav 9.

The deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, Davidi Ben Zion, responded: "Sarid is a resident of Samaria, an active reservist who is not involved with Tzav 9. His only 'sin' is that he bears a similar same name as a Tzav 9 activist. This is a crazy. Forget about the fact that Biden's sanctions are a threat to every citizen and reservist in Israel, now an ordinary citizen is paying the price because of US harassment."

Earlier the US Treasury Department announced that it had imposed additional sanctions on Israelis – including on a woman for the first time – Reut Ben Haim, a 38-year-old mother of eight, a member of Tzav 9, and a resident of Netivot. Apart from Ben Haim, sanctions were also imposed on Aviad Sarid – but, as mentioned, they were supposed to be imposed on a person with the same name from Revava.

The Americans announced the imposition of sanctions also against the Lehava organization, the Hanoch Farm, Havat Meitarim, Nerya’s farm, Issachar Man, and his farm in the southern Hebron hills.

Reut Ben Haim responded: "I only established Tzav 9 so that our hostages could come back home, because we wanted to stop this aid we are transferring, which ends up with Hamas. We also wanted to prevent our soldiers from being injured. People came from all over the Israeli society came to join us; hostage families, bereaved families, from the right and the left, they all came and we acted with zero violence, in the most legitimate action there is."

"This is why they are now sanctioning us, me personally. The thing is that that today it’s me and tomorrow it’s you. It harms our democracy. It is a fatal blow to our security here in Israel. I call on our government to do everything to protect me legally so that this is stopped," she added.

Tzav 9 responded to the sanctions and stated that it "acted within the framework of the law, in a democratic protest by the entire nation, that the aid is going directly to Hamas. The sanctions are an anti-democratic intervention in a major movement of Israeli citizens, among them families of hostages and bereaved families who oppose delivering supplies to Nukhba terrorists who slaughtered, killed and raped us on October 7th."

"These sanctions are against each and every citizen of Israel who already wants our hostages at home. The Israeli government must protect all its democratic citizens, both with legal protection and with security protection. The Biden administration has decided to give a reward to Yahya Sinwar, and we must all stand up and protest this madness," responded Tzav 9 sources.