The United States has announced visa bans on Israel over settler violence in the West Bank.
This is a small but symbolic move because the U.S. almost never pushes Israel on violence against Palestinians.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this: “Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities.”
What do they mean by “settlers”? This refers to Israelis who live in the occupied territory of the West Bank. They live in illegal outposts and it is even illegal under Israeli law. Many have been terrorizing Palestinians on their own land for years but they see this war as an opportunity to step it up and carry out pograms in Palestinian villages.
According to Al Jazeera, “since the October 7 attack, Israeli settlers have killed at least nine Palestinians in the West Bank, three times as many as in all of 2022, and attacks on Palestinian villages and farmers have become commonplace.”
It is an interesting contradiction. First, why would those people care about a potential Visa to the U.S.? Second, why would the U.S. stand for Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and not Gaza?
