The US government is not demanding that Israeli banks close the accounts of the Jewish settlers on whom the Biden Administration imposed sanctions in recent weeks, the Times of Israel reported.
According to the report, the administration made its position clear in a letter sent to Israel's Finance Ministry earlier this week that the sanctions were not meant to completely impoverish the targets by seizing all of their assets.
On February 1, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order imposing sanctions on four Jewish settlers accused of extremism and violence against Arabs: David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi.
According to the State Department Chasdai initiated and led a riot, which involved setting vehicles and buildings on fire, assaulting Palestinian civilians, and causing damage to property in Huwara, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian.
Tanjil was involved in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, resulting in injuries that required medical treatment.
The State Department stated that according to video evidence, Zicherman assaulted Israeli activists and their vehicles in Judea and Samaria, blocking them on the street, and attempted to break the windows of passing vehicles with activists inside. Zicherman cornered at least two of the activists and injured both.
Six weeks later, on March 14, the US Treasury announced that sanctions would be imposed on three additional settlers, raising the number of targets to seven.
The people targeted by the second batch of sanctions include Moshe Sharvit, the person who runs the Moshe's Farm outpost, Zvi Bar Yosef, the person who runs the Zvi's Farm outpost, and Neriya Ben Pazi, who comes from a third outpost.
Multiple Israeli banks closed the accounts of the men for fear of being found in violation of the sanctions. The US assurance that this was not the administration's intention comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to take action against the Palestinian Authority's economy in response to the sanctions.