US President Donald Trump rescinded the sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups in the West Bank, the new White House website announced on Monday, following Trump’s inauguration.
The website page titled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” was published on the site on the day Trump entered office.
The page begins by stating that the “revocations” in the list will be the first of many steps the US government plans on taking “to repair our institutions and our economy.”
Among the items on the lengthy list appears the rescinded Executive Order 14115 issued on February 1, 2024, which authorized the imposition of certain sanctions on Israeli settler groups “on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank.”
Back when the executive order was issued, the official statement that accompanied it began by stating, “I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, find that the situation in the West Bank – in particular, high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction – has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region.”
“These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom,” the statement continued.
The statement added that the actions “also undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests.”
Biden describes the situation to be a "national emergency"
“For these reasons, these actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat,” the introduction concluded.
The statement then listed the details of the sanctions, which included 12 sections with various additional parts.
KAN reported that Biden had extended the order that enabled the US to impose its sanctions on the West Bank settlers by an additional year.
Israel Ganz, chairman of the main Yesha settler council, told Reuters in October that he expected the sanctions to be lifted in the event of a Trump win