
Israeli settlers flash middle fingers from rooftops as they taunt Palestinian locals near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, as they mark a yearly Jewish religious event in Hebron in the West Bank on November 23, 2024. (Hazem Bader/AFP)
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL | Published January 21, 2025
US president heeds pleas Israeli officials have been making for months, signing executive order hours after another rampage targets northern West Bank Palestinian village
On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order rolling back the sanctions regime implemented last year by his predecessor Joe Biden to target violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
The policy was one of dozens rolled back by Trump hours after being sworn back into office through a stack of executive orders he signed first at a post-inauguration rally in front of thousands of supporters, and then back at the White House.
Reversing the sanctions regime, which itself was the result of an executive order signed by Biden on February 1, 2023, was a high priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which raised the issue in various meetings with the Trump transition team over the past several months.
Biden signed the order amid mounting frustration in Washington over Israel’s failure to rein in rampant settler violence. He argued that the violence destabilized the West Bank and harmed US interests in the region.
For years, Israeli authorities largely ignored the phenomenon, and the problem has only gotten worse since Netanyahu’s latest government was formed in December 2022. Outgoing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has dismissed the attacks as a non-issue, and the top officer overseeing the West Bank is currently under investigation by the Justice Ministry for allegedly ignoring settler violence in order to please his boss and get promoted.
Notably, Trump signed the executive order just hours after another settler rampage in the northern West Bank village of al-Funduq.
US President Donald Trump holds up an executive order commuting sentences for people convicted of Jan. 6 offenses in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Through the executive order signed by Biden, 17 individuals and 16 entities were designated in eight separate batches over the past year. They included settlers that the US said were involved in violent attacks against Palestinians and the dispossession of Palestinian land along with entire illegal outposts whose residents took part in such actions. They escalated to target close associates of Ben Gvir, and the Biden administration even weighed sanctioning the national security minister himself along with fellow far-right cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich, before ultimately deciding against it. The last batch of sanctions did, however, designate the Amana development arm of the settler movement, in what was seen as a major blow.
That same movement’s leaders were invited to Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The head of the Yesha Council umbrella body of settler mayors Yisrael Gantz was in the audience at the Capital One Arena in Washington when Trump announced that he’d be returning to the White House to sign more executive orders reversing many of Biden’s policies. His presence highlighted just how quickly Washington has shifted its stance on the issue of West Bank settlements, which the previous administration deemed illegal under international law.
Whether Trump continues to please the settler movement may still be up for debate, as he advances a ceasefire and hostage release deal that most hard-right Israelis oppose, as it likely requires Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages.
The settler movement has had its sights set on re-establishing settlements in Gaza that were evacuated in 2005 when Israel withdrew from the coastal enclave. Netanyahu has ruled out the idea, but he remains beholden to far-right coalition partners who support it ardently.
Trump is also looking to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia — a deal that will likely require Jerusalem to make significant concessions to the Palestinians. Riyadh has publicly conditioned the agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would be just about the antithesis of the settler movement.
This handout photo shows emergency responders at the scene where two Israelis were shot after attacking Palestinians, near the West Bank outpost of Ramat Gilad, January 20, 2025. (Magen David Adom)
Trump said Monday that a normalization deal would likely be signed “soon,” if not by the end of the year.
Earlier this month, two of the Israelis sanctioned sued the Biden administration for targeting them, arguing that they were ineligible because they are also US citizens.
Indeed, the executive order signed by Biden only covered foreign nationals. Last week, two US officials told The Times of Israel that the administration didn’t properly vet the two plaintiffs and wouldn’t have designated them had it known that they were dual nationals.
It’s unclear whether the lawsuit will move forward, though, given that the sanctions regime has been terminated.
While the settler sanctions regime may no longer be on the books in the US, Biden’s initiative had a ripple effect that will sustain throughout the globe, with several Western countries and the entire European Union following suit. Those sanctions are expected to remain in place, hampering the settler movements efforts to conduct foreign transactions and raise money abroad.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
RELATED: Trump cancels sanctions on Israeli settlers in West Bank

A drone view of the Israeli settlement Shilo, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
REUTERS | Published January 21, 2025
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
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