Biden sanctions Israeli settlers over West Bank violence
bbc.com
He signed an executive order on Thursday, saying violence had reached "intolerable levels".
The sanctions will block the individuals from accessing all US property and other assets.
Violence in the West Bank has spiked since Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.
Everyone here should know, this is due to you and the conversations you've been having, media you've been supporting, and any actions you've taken to directly protest, letter write, etc.
Activism works. Being annoying af works. Simply changing the media you consume has an impact. Conservatives get what they want from their elected officials because they demand it. You too can demand things of your elected officials (so long as you can hold them to consequence, ie, the problem with bnmw).
Let's not forget, this is exactly how we ended segregation in the US and Apartheid in South Africa.
Activism works. Let your voice be heard.
This is also why bad actors fill sites like reddit with bots, to try and control the public narrative.
But bots can't vote. Bots can't demonstrate. Bots can't boycott.
And also kudos to Lemmy and Lemmy mods for keeping this place relatively free from bots.
I wouldn't count on that. I'm a dev, and I don't really know how you reliably do that. You can catch low hanging fruit, but it doesn't take much to evade.
This is due to Biden needing to go to Michigan, with its huge arabic population. His campaign people wanted to avoid loud and awkward protests from members of his own party, so they threw a tiny bone that they knew would make a big headline splash.
I hate to be this cynical, but listening to his campaign managers making the rounds on the political insider podcasts… they are overwhelmingly “professional” and entirely inauthentic.
Even if biden himself is earnest, this campaign is shaping up to have all the stage managed authenticity of Hillary’s 2016 run.
I’m worried.
Lol if he comes to Michigan he's just gonna hide himself at the Ford plant where they get a select few line workers to attend his speech so they can post it on social media.
Dearborn would eat him alive if he so much as so stepped outside the property.
No one's gonna buy up this executive order.
His 2020 campaign did as well. It was just placed against the previous 4 years. It probably would have been enough for 2024 if this hadn't happened too. In fact the reason I don't believe October 7th was an Iranian called shot is because they aren't dumb and game theory suggests they'd rather have Biden who they use as a political pinata than Trump who will start a war with them within 2 years of taking office.
Fuck you and fuck putin.
Lmao. No. Just no.
Unless you're extinction rebellion and then everyone hates you anyway.
Wah but being mean to biden spurs voter apathy wah
I'd argue his observed positions on Unions, (as long as they're toothless), immigrants (a little human rights violation is fine), and supporting a literal genocide did that.
Also gaslighting the country about the economy while taking credit for it didn't help either. In fact that hurt him, a lot.
"The indivuals". Four. Four guys. That's all. Of all the Israeli illegal settlers, a whole total of FOUR are getting banned from buying US properties...which I doubt they wanted to, anyway.
A reminder that all Israeli settlements are illegal.
thanks for the clarification as my country is banned from clicking on that link and I'm too lazy to shit my pants on another website.
Even if it's just lip service to get votes from the left, I'm happy to see the narrative manifesting itself in the white house. they obviously know that voters want.
unfortunately by the time any serious policy would be enacted, Palestine will be gone.
He has Michigan in the bag now. All those Arabs can see how strong this man is.
"How dare you do something instead of doing everything!"
Four people is not doing something. Four people is doing the smallest possible amount so that cheerleaders like yourself can say "Hey, they're trying to do something" to Muslim-Americans in Michigan.
It's transparent and doesn't even do that, though.
All of these things are vastly more complicated than it appears on the surface - to say that they shouldn't do a thing because they should do another thing is not productive, hey lets just do nothing and be mad about it on the internet guys.
And what does anything have to do with Michigan? Are you a real person?
Yes, I am a real person. Demographic shifts, which are very well known to every political person, have made Muslim Americans a required component of a democratic win in most of the mid west swing states, but especially Michigan.
The Democratic party is starting to freak out because Biden's explicit backing of a genocide has dropped his support among Muslim Americans from 60-65% into the single digits.
The Electoral map for a Democratic win without the Midwest Muslim American vote is so unrealistic as to be fantasy.
This is why they are doing this. It's a throwaway token gesture. And the people it's supposed to appease know it too.
A group of Muslim Democrats from Michigan refused to meet with a Biden campaign representative recently.
Trump's also pulled ahead in the head to head polling over it.
This is what shooting yourself in the face to protect votes in deep blue states looks like.
Honestly, if he did nothing it would be a huge improvement. Instead, he's proactively sponsoring the genocide with his blank-check policy on military backing and endless exports of the latest in mass mutilation technologies into the hands of known killers.
When you've outflanked Ronald Reagan to the right, because you cannot conceive of curbing the flow of tanks, bombs, and other killing machines into the country, maybe there's a legitimate reason you're being criticized?
I mean, when they can steal homes for free.
Firstly, positive to see more criticism and friction between Israel and US officials, and that resulting in unilateral action against extreme elements of Israeli society. I recognize that international and domestic politics are hard to balance, and its campaign season.
But holy shit this solves nothing. “It’s a start” certainly, but there shouldn’t even be settlers. Oslo II very clearly, with lines on the map agreed to by both sides, set out that the West Bank and Gaza is Palestinian, for Palestinians.
At what point does the US alliance with Israel cost us more than it’s worth, especially when this unlimited support is directly harmful to other regional allies like Jordan or Egypt?
I'm sure that behind closed.doors, we are rapidly approaching that point.
It's optics, which are important. You can't demand the US unilaterally solve Middle East peace or nothing matters.
And you (not literally you I just mean people) can't get mad at "hugging Netanyahu" which also did literally nothing in reality, while dismissing this. They're both optics. Early after Oct 7th Biden wanted to show compassion for Israel after the attack, now he's showing that the US is not on the same page as Israeli leadership. Probably part of a top-level pressure campaign, starting small with private critiques, then public critiques, then actually sanctioning some extreme people, maybe next he threatens to withhold aid, we don't know.
You can still argue the process isn't going fast enough and you want whatever your proposed solution is, but it's not 'nothing' for the same reasons you mentioned in your first paragraphs.
When the house is burning down you don't start with the garden hose and wait for the structure to be fully engulfed before allowing the fire department to use just one hose. That's a fine approach for normal diplomatic problems. But the genocide response playbook is very clear. You need to act swiftly and decisively to protect the victim group. They will be dead by the time normal politics ramps up to the levels required to save them.
If the Zionists on here are anything to go by. They don't recognize Oslo 2 and they just really hope nobody brings it up.
Interesting how you used Oslo II and not the failed camp David summit options that Israel tried. Palestine is in an even worse state than it was back then yet still fighting for the same thing.
You also bring this up without any thought of the Abraham accords which is more interesting. Israel might be digging it's own grave but the US needs them as they are a strategic ally deep in the heart of the OIC block. So people shouldn't expect the US's involvement other than support.
Oslo II was signed by the PLO on behalf of the Palestinian people. It’s the most recent document that both sides agreed to, dealing with partition of land. Israel has failed to do what it agreed to and slowly cede back the West Bank entirely - they have done the opposite and taken more land.
Camp David accords was between Israel and Egypt, decided without the Palestinians, and condemned by the UN and rejected as illegitimate by;
Resolution 33/28
Resolution 34/70
Resolution 34/65 B
And yes the rapprochement with the Saudis is a big development towards normalization and stability for Israel, and cements alliances between the region - but Israeli realpolitik is fucking up the juggling act US diplomats are doing.
Sorry I forgot the part where PLO leader Arafat refusing any concessions in camp David was Egypt's doing. I forgot that the reason the second intifada and Hamas uprising was because of pesky old Egypt not negotiating for them or that the UN called it illegitimate. The part where the entire world was puzzled why Palestinians refused any offers that apparently Egypt was doing, very weird.
Arafat wasn’t a part of the Camp David Accords in 1978, you’re confused with the 2000 Camp David summit.
That 2000 summit fell apart because of a loggerhead over what is fundamental to both sides, and an Israeli negotiation redline hypocrisy - right of return. Arafat may well have been an Arab nationalist who wanted the three no’s forever and wouldn’t sign anything - but then why engage and negotiate at all? Concessions were offered from on both sides but Israel refused to permit those in the diaspora to return to their land, all while funding birthright trips for foreign Jews.
Egypt has a viable country and government, and got the canal back and A SHITLOAD of land Israel had taken. Palestinians were being offered what the US and Canada gave the First Nations after we broke treaty after treaty.
Ah shit you got me i got the words swapped. I meant the summit being the last attempt of a treaty that Arafat didnt even bother trying to negotiate. What i was trying to say was there was an attempt for land swaps and a passage way for peace but the PLO captain shat his pants and decided he wants murder on his hands. Oslo II might have been the last official treaty but there have been attempts to get peace and a 2 state solution since then.
The only reason Egypt even has the Sinai back is because Israel offered it back as a sign of peace after it was captured. Palestinians have nothing to offer. Not even the Egyptians want them back in the Sinai now.
@febra@lemmy.world has addressed this point very nicely in a post which unfortunately is no longer readable. So allow me to quote it because it shows very well how insulting, I'd say on purpose, the whole proposal of Israel was. They just wanted something so outlandish that it was refused outright so they can later say "See we tried but they don't want to talk!!!!!!". The whole tactic is very similar to Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia which they specifically worded so Serbia had to refuse it or stop being a sovereign state.
Anyway here's the post of @febra@lemmy.world. It's a bit long but definitely worth the read to get a better understanding of this very complex situation:
Thank you for this comprehensive explanation of the situation.
You're welcome. It was quite eye opening to me when I read it first, so it was worth saving.
I absolutely don't think any of these propositions are outlandish or even remotely insulting. This was a hindsight problem. Given that we are now 20 years into the future, Palestinians would be stupid to not agree to these if it were proposed again. But that won't happen because of a multitude of reasons.
Again, all I was trying to say was that Oslo II was not the last time there was an attempt at a 2 state solution. Saying "take back to green line" is kind of dumb to me because that's no longer in scope of a solution.
"Oh man israel committed so many war crimes since they last gave the Palestinians a bad deal, that the previous deal looks amazing to the war crimes Palestinians are suffering from right now.
But instead of offering the Palestinians the previous deal israel will offer one that is far worse than the situation Palestinians are in right now".
You described the history of israel good job.
Yeah why not, that's how the world works. It's not like Palestinians are making their case any better. There was relative peace and stability in he area for 20ish years until Hamas decided to shit their pants. Why would Israel want to give them any benefit of the doubt when they are proving themselves to not be trustworthy?
When you look at it from the perspective of the Palestinians who want their own country with the sovereignty this entails, it absolutely is insulting. With those limitations they would be little more than a puppet state of Israel. Not only another state but one they have serious grievances and a bloody history with. There's no way they could accept this. Israel knew this very well!
I was ready to make a post on how the blockade didnt exist until Hamas took over and why but I would be interested to hear it from a Palestinian perspective.
I saw last night that Biden might be considering labelling them as sovereign. I feel like this would be a giant double edged sword for them. If Palestine becomes it's own nation and Israel was forced to open the blockade that would be great for Palestinians. If Hamas still decided to attack Israel at this point then the IDF would have justification to attack even harder.
That is an extremely problematic view. It reminds me of the Évian Conference where Hitler was arguing that "no one wants the jews" since the US, UK, and other countries refused to take in german jewish refugees, and thus "the final solution" was spawned. It's an extremely dehumanising view that ended up in genocide. Please refrain from repeating such opinions.
Besides that, the Palestinians have a long history in Palestine. I don't understand what you're hinting at with "wanting them back". Back where? They already have a home.
You misconstrued what I said. I meant they don't have anything to offer either Israel nor Egypt. Even if they wanted to negotiate again, they don't have anything going for them. Don't twist my words to fit some other topic.
Tbh, if you don't want people to misunderstand the things you say, then you need to start saying things with your chest. Stop posting inscrutable and reactionary blandities and start posting clear and intelligible opinions supported by as many facts as you're able to muster. Lemmy will be a better place if you do :)
Wow so I don't play along and you hit me with the "reactionary blandities". You can confront what I said rather than spout off. I'm sure you have some great points to cover. I don't particularly like being made a scarecrow but please educate me.
The point that I'm trying to make is that your comments are so nonspecific that it is impossible to "educate you" for the same reasons that it is impossible to nail a cloud to a wall. For example, in your first comment, you say that it is "Interesting how you used Oslo II and not the failed camp David summit options that Israel tried" but you don't explain why you think it's interesting or why they failed or why you think they should have succeeded but didn't or any other jumping off point to give others a chance to agree with you or rebut you. You just said something bland and vague and impossible to pin down. How could anyone possibly agree or disagree or even have a discussion about a statement as generic as "I find this interesting!"?
Ummm all I tried to say was that it's unfair to use a temporary solution (Oslo II) as the metric. I find it interesting that you can't understand that. Do you want me to elaborate on why I find that interesting or do you want to address why the green line is still in contention? You seem to be an expert at deflecting.
The do explain why you said “they don’t want them back”. When have the majority of Palestinians come from the Egyptian part of the Sinai peninsula? Since you’re obviously taking about this “back” it implies they must come from there, right? And please do explain what that message is hinting at or implying. Why would it even matter if someone “wanted them back”?
Let me put it this way for you: Do Europeans want the Ashkenazi Jews back? Does that even matter? Can you see how out of place this sounds now?
Why are you guys harping on one sentence.... All I meant was that Palestine has 0 friends here. They have no leverage yet they want fucking Oslo II to come back like if the last 20 years was a bad dream.
Because you’re clearly showing your true colours. There’s no point in having a genuine conversation with someone that talks in such a dehumanising manner.
My true colors is that Palestinians fucked up? Where am I being dehumanizing? I am just pointing out that Oslo II is not now nor not ever going to be a solution unless Gaza start shitting gold. Green line is a distant memory.
Their shit disturbing at every opportunity is probably creating more problems than supporting them fixes. Every time Mossad goes off page and assassinates someone else, they're making more enemies.
We know it's because if there was ever peace accidentally made in that area, Israel would be out of a job and hence the money, so there's no fucking way they're going to let that happen. So destabilizing the area is in Israel's best interests.
Huh??? How does Israel lose money if there was peace??? I am curious to hear your opinion on what kind of revenues makes up Israel's GDP and where instability of the Middle East fits into that.
The money the US sends?
So the usual $5B in aid that Israel gets. You know Israels GDP was close to $600B last year right?
They had a budget surplus of less than $5b least year, so that money still makes a difference. Not sure if it's just the usual $5b either right now, I didn't go digging hard for it, but the data I saw for for much aid the US sends Israel was from before Oct.
I think you have a misunderstanding on how these funds work
US government gives $5b to various US weapons manufacturers who then send weapons to Israel, who then has weapons without needing to spend their own budget money on them, saving $5b.
What do they need this funding for again? Would they need this if there was peace?
They might. There's peace because attacking is too dangerous (what they have now, at least with the nations not attacking them) vs peace because treaties are in place vs peace because no one wants to attack them. That middle one is risky because situations can change fast.
And there's another angle that questions whether they wouldn't need weapons during peace for less generous reasons.
So in the ideal scenario where there is lasting peace with open borders and open trade... Why would Israel need funding? If anything the whole region would benefit from this I don't understand why people think that the country NEEDS instability. They are doing well off as is with these problems and I would bet everything I would ever own that lasting peace would make their situation even more profitable.
I suppose better than nothing but 'better than nothing' is a low fuckin bar for intervention in ongoing genocide. Unless there's reprecussions on the state of Israel, who condones and empowers settelers, this seems like sanctioning the Houthis while simultaneously arming Iran.
It's a start.
It has been political suicide in the past to criticize Isreal. They are also an incredibly important strategic ally in the region, both militarily and commerce.
This move shows that the US is potentially willing to move away from unconditional support, which could be devastating to Isreal.
So, while the actual scope of the sanctions themselves is unimpressive, the meaning behind it is significant.
Sure, you're not wrong, but I'm really really tired of getting 'it's a start' action on issues like this and the irreversible change of the climate. There's a very real timer ticking on both these issues if nothing changes and based on history I'm really skeptical were getting anything but another 'its a start' on some other small facet of this issue, ad nauseam until it's not an election year.
Skepticism is always healthy, but try not to wade too far into cynicism.
International relations are very complicated, and even if it would be satisfying to have fast and heavy responses, I can also understand the cautious approach in this case. As you say, it's an election year. It would not do Palestinians much good to have a reactionary response poison the well, just to the Republicans win all levels of government and screw up the region far worse, in addition to abandoning Ukraine.
Millions of them have been displaced. They're starving and dying every day. Disease is rampant. Tens of thousands are dead. They're running out of hospitals to use. Genocide isn't the kind of thing you can do a "wait and see" approach for. I get what you're saying, but people need to keep pressuring him. I hope no one takes this small victory as an excuse to stop.
Yep. I agree, the pressure needs to say on. And more importantly, we need to praise this measure. His administration needs the feedback that withholding support and starting sanctions is a popular policy.
What we don't need is a tantrum that not enough is being done, dissent that can be weaponized by the Right to convince people to waste their vote on not-Biden.
Agreed! It's like training a dog with pets lol.
Yeah, the benefit of the slow and steady approach is for Americans, not for Palestinians.
We have to remember, those people aren't our friends. They're known to chant "Death to America". They include the kind of terrorists who would commit the October 7th attacks, and most Palestinians support that kind of terrorism.
We want to stop the genocide while keeping Israel as an ally against both terrorism and Iran, who is currently attacking any Western shipping through the Suez Canal.
I think we have a lot more room to do that, absolutely. It's a bad situation, and we have to understand our role in it. But our role can certainly be less hard-lined than supporting genocide.
They're not our friends? It's the other way around. We've been helping Israel kill them and take their land for decades and decades. We're on Israel's side of every peace talk, pressuring Palestine to take horrible deals that isolates them and keeps them separated, covering Isreal when the UN tries to censure them for human rights violations and war crimes, selling them the bombs and weapons they use to kill Palestinian children and families, bomb their neighborhoods and hospitals, pretend we give a shit with a token of humanitarian aid that hasn't helped the bare minimum of calories they get, the majority of their water being poison, the extremely high unemployment rate, the constant buzzing sound of drones overhead that increases their stress and ruins their sleep, or the general oppressive apartheid state they live under and always while at the same time continuing to sell the tools of murder and destruction to Israel.
Of course they're not our friends after all that. And of course after all that they are gong to do an armed struggle. An attack the scale of October 7th has only happened once, and it's the result of years of the deaths being way higher on the Palestinian side and there being nothing they can do about it. October 7th is the only time Hamas has barely touched Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has been killing all Palestinians (including civilians, not just Hamas) disproportionately for years and no one has done or said anything on their behalf. Even their peaceful marches lead to them dying or losing limbs and no other change. So what do you expect them to do? Just do the nice thing for us and die quietly? Cozy up to their oppressors? Holding Hamas against Palestine is like holding the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against all Jews because " clearly they practice violence".
I appreciate what you're saying about genocide bad, this is just all a response to the comment about them not being our friends. They would be huge friends of ours if we helped them get equal rights or integrate into a one state solution, but the US has never been as interested in that as they are helping Israel complete their mission of settler colonialism.
That's idealistic. You think if we just do the right thing now that they'll forgive the past 75 years?
Our government's primary interest is protecting Americans. These politicians know that if they allow a 9/11 style attack, the same people who are calling for peace now will be calling for those politicians heads.
I too wish we could just all get along. It's understandable that they want revenge. But as long as we're expecting revenge, we're going to do our best to make sure it can't happen. And that's oppressive and wrong. But I don't know how palatable just allowing Israel to be wiped off the map in the name of righteousness is either.
There are no good guys here. I wish I could see a path to peace, but I don't.
Why do you think that is?
Does it matter? Should we not care about being attacked because they have a reason?
There are Americans who yell almost the same thing to other Americans, ie: anti-abortionists, anti-queer, racists, neo-nazis, Proud Boys, the kind of people who supported and engaged in insurrection, etc etc etc. They may use different words but the intent is identical.
For anyone not reading any further...this is a whole total of FOUR illegal settlers being banned. FOUR.
Now do the same with the Israeli state
Yeah, what good are sanctions if the Israeli government is still giving them US weapons to continue terrorising Palestinians in the West bank?
It's a warning shot.
Good thing we're doing warning shots over a 100 days in, after Gaza has been turned into rubble and like 2% of the population has died.
Geopolitics involving nuclear armaments happens slowly, unfortunately. It’s a nasty situation, but the political will is shifting away from Israel.
The US can’t unilaterally stop supporting a long time ally without undermining the trust the rest of our Allie’s have in the US- and by extension NATO as a whole. At least not without taking small steps at a time
They won't. Geopolitics is 4D chess. Not sure who's winning, but Israel is America's only Middle Eastern ally other than Saudi Arabia.
Way to little, but at least something.
Us sanctioning iran: "FUCK EVERY MAN WOMAN GRANDPARENT AND CHILD, OVERTHROW YOUR GOVERNMENT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT BITCH"
Us sanctioning israel: "using satalites we have pinpointed 4 individuals in the west bank region and will enact targeted sanctions to curb behavior, thank you and god bless"
Glad to see he's starting to feel the pressure! That aside, wake me up when he sanctions Israel, which not-so-subtly supports these settlers.
He doesn't even need to sanction them. Stop sending them weapons.
Edit: I mean, I guess sanctions would be nice too, but stopping the weapons transfers should be the bare minimum.
That too 👆
That's gonna be a lot of pressure huh? They banned...four dudes. I'm not even joking, the ban is for FOUR guys.
Doing literally anything at all is a divergence from previous policy. How do you explain it?
Cuz it looks to me like Biden trying to throw his electoral base a bone so he doesn't lose.
He won’t.
The point is to do as little as possible and still be able to say he tried.
Make a couple of ineffectual executive orders and then send more bombs to kill innocent brown children.
how do you sanction "settlers" exactly
They get put on a list. They try to enter the US, they get detained. They won't be able to engage with the American banking system or buy real estate in America.
What scrambles my brain is he won't even do the most basic shit. Like okay Gazans are starving because Aid is being blocked. Why aren't we tying our weapons deliveries to the flow of Aid?
Even if you believe the IDF is the most moral military on the planet (laugh, snort) this is an obvious measure to make sure there isn't a famine. And the IDF could have pretended they did it willingly if they had done this in December when we knew it was a problem!
But nope. Is there a Biden pee tape? What in the actual hell is going on?
Because the point of the weapons delivers is to kill Gazans, not save them. This isn't a bug, its a feature. Genocide and permanent depopulation of Arabs in the Gaza strip is the entire purpose of this military operation.
Biden has been an Israel die-hard since the 70s and he's only grown more intractable with age.
Ugh, I want to puke. This isn't the country I grew up in, but apparently it was.
He scratched the back of the Jewish community enough to be able to argue for their vote. Now he's got to contend with all the people that actually don't want The US to support Israeli genocide against Palestine. Politicians be politicking.
The Zionist Jewish community isn't integral to his re-election.
These fucking morons are going to hillary themselves into another Trump presidency. Fucking embarassing.
You have to admit it is an interesting tactic. First he makes all people who are pro palestine hate him and now he also makes the people who are pro israel hate him as well.
What happens if one of the settlers becomes PM of Israel? Does the US change its tune?
Remember, in the case of India, the current PM of India was banned from entering the US for almost a decade. Now, we bend over backwards for him.
Seeing as Ben-Gvir isn't mentioned at all, I think you already have your answer.
The funny thing is with Modi, there was a huge petition to get him banned and they still overturned it like nothing just because he became PM.
Same story with the Phillipines I think
Yes, as it turns out, becoming the elected leader of millions/billions of people does get you some special treatment that you didn't get before.
The PM of India was an elected official even when banned.
More like we let our morals slide when it became apparent that China was a bigger issue.
Gvir is already in the government and Biden is supporting him. Nothing will change.
History repeats itself. War crimes are being committed and other countries try to wait it out with pointless bureaucracy bullshit.
Meanwhile innocent children suffer and die every day.
Biden (I hope): "Gee, after the election, I don't have to worry about voters thinking I'm 'throwing Israel under the bus', and can do whatever I want. Gee, will I still be a zionist? Or will I follow what my party wants me to do? Here is a hint, Israel."
I think i'm going to call this hopium
Because what reason at all does he have to challenge the USA's biggest defense partner and international asset?
Already ignoring the fact that his party is also backed by zionists lol.
That's definitely some high grade hopium. The man has had every chance to do the right thing.
Him: what's the bare minimum I can do. I don't like being called Genocide Joe.
Staffers: sanctions!
Him: fuck those four settlers in particular!
Staff: at least he's better than Trump?
I wonder what percentage of the Israeli settlers are using the US financial system or even own US property.
The wording is also a bit vague, Do the bombs that we also sent Israel count as our property. Or are they officially Israel's?
Also, who are "the individuals?" who invaded the west bank? Do we have group names?
They're 20 year olds and teenagers who probably don't have any Israeli assets let alone American. They're from the 0.01% of violent settlers with no clout who did something politically inconvenient enough to actually get arrested by Israel. One of them beat up a liberal Jewish activist so that's why they got in trouble. One of them was from the Huwara pogrom attack where high-ranking Israeli government officials and the IDF encouraged and facilitated it, and he's a random loser they arrested to deflect attention.
The US picked some people to sanction that Israel has already deemed expendable, and they're people Israel agrees did something bad, so Biden isn't offending Israel by listening to any Palestinian accusation against an Israeli.
They're Israel's. They bought them from us. Doesn't matter that they bought them with money we gave them.
Holy shit Biden sanctioned 4 PEOPLE let's go dude. He's really showing his massive power.
Don't be shitty because the progress isn't as much as you want.
It's extremely surprising that this happened at all, so any progress is a good thing.
This isn't progress, this is a scam. The four people in question are already in trouble with the IDF or police, they're basically just some random street thugs.
It's literally just a piss poor attempt to gain support for elections, nothing more. They pull this typa crap all the time in every 3rd world country so its not exactly new or surprising.
now boycott and divest
Too little too late.
This is more than likely him getting started with reining Israel in. I expect more serious measures to follow soon.
I expected more serious measures to follow when innocents were burning to death. The white house can be called upon for a lot of things but I think any good in this situation will have to come from Congress.
So what about funding and charity donation to settlers applications.
Cool, another great move by the Biden administration. Now do the war criminals who partook in perfidy next, both IDF and Hamas.
Interesting.
I wasn't going to vote for him, but now...
If you did mean this sarcastically, the three dots may not be enough. As sarcasm often can be misunderstood, most people highlight it by adding "/s" to their post.
ur bald... /s
He sanctioned 4 people.
The "..." indicate to me that this is meant sarcastically (I hope)
Enjoy Trump.
All this violence before was therefore tolerable?
Yesterday happened.
We can waste time lamenting the poor choices made yesterday, or we can make better decisions today.
Would you have preferred he didn't do this? Or did he need to go on tv and slap himself as he said "I'm stupid, stupid, stupid for not doing this sooner?"
What would you have rather he did today in a world where time machines don't exist?
Two state solution now, or not vote for you Biden. Make your mark.
When you vote for president, you're not voting for one man. You're voting on the supreme court, federal judges, heads of federal agencies, regulatory commission members, and much much more. Just want to remind you to also remember that a presidential vote will impact all that, whether you like the main candidate or not.
So he'll appoint judges that continue the ridiculousness of corporate personhood; breaking unions; abusing migrants; and protecting genocidal criminals.
Great. So excited.
Citizens United was voted on 5 to 4. All 5 that voted for it were appointed by Reagan or one of the Bushes. The 4 that voted against were from Gerald Ford, Clinton, and Obama.
You're just making stuff up now.
Oh dude. That's just the latest thing. Corporate personhood has been held by both sides for about a hundred years now. The only debate is how far it can go. The only thing Citizens United did was make their donations directly to political figures legal. They were already doing political ads and such with first amendment protections.
Now you're moving goalposts.
Where did I say Citizens United? Where did I give any sense that it was only the most recent transgressions and not the shareholder bullshit we've been living under for a 100 years?
Liberals or fascists, pick one on one day and do something about them both the other 364 or shut the fuck up.
That's the thing. You can't call yourself a liberal while supplying a literal genocide, preventing the free movement of people, or supporting unchecked corporate power.
These were all things that were considered outside even classical liberalism. Much less the alignment of modern liberal vs conservative liberal we've had in the US for two hundred years.
This is shaping up to be much more along the lines of Oligarchy vs Fascism. And you know what? They don't feel that different to the peasants.
I'm partial to a fuck around and find out approach. Forced disarmament, dissolution of the state of Israel, a combined Jewish/Arab government is enforced. Everyone is a citizen. It worked for Germany, it will work here too. They don't get to have an Army or anything again until they prove they're ready for it.
Bless your heart, sweet summer child.
Hey if they continue to fuck around then we just get the UN Transitional Government of Jerusalem for a couple decades. It's good enough for Somalia.