Trump revokes sanctions on Israeli settlers in West Bank: What we know
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders from withdrawing from the World Health Organization to reversing one that sanctioned violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
US President Donald Trump signed dozens of executive orders Monday evening, revoking 78 policies of former President Joe Biden, including one that placed sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
What happened: Trump reversed a slew of Biden's policies in an executive order called "Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions." Those included sanctions imposed by Biden on Israeli settlers.
Biden signed Executive Order 14115, “Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank," on Feb. 1, 2024.
It imposed sanctions on 17 Israeli individuals and 16 entities, while stopping short of sanctioning senior Israeli officials supporting the settlement expansion.
Reactions: Trump revoking this policy was a key wish of far-right Israeli groups that believed Trump's victory would mean backing for further Israeli settlements in the West Bank and perhaps US backing for an Israeli annexation of the territory.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked Trump in a post to X on Tuesday. “Mr. President, your unwavering and uncompromising support for the State of Israel is a testament to your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historical right to our land,” he wrote.
I sincerely thank President Donald Trump for his just decision to lift the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against settlers and activists in right-wing organizations. These sanctions were a severe and blatant foreign intervention in Israel’s internal affairs and an… pic.twitter.com/Lp1I8oFixa
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) January 21, 2025
Now-resigned National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reacted similarly, calling Trump's decision "a righting of an injustice of many years, in which distorted policies were pursued by the American administration," in a post to X Tuesday.
In late February, following the sanctions, Biden restored a US legal finding calling the settlements “illegitimate” under international law.
Earlier this month, a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded roughly 1,420 incidents of settler violence in the West Bank since the beginning of 2024. The incidents led to the deaths of five Palestinians and injury of 360 others.
Know more: Trump signed several other foreign-policy related executive orders, including pausing US foreign assistance for 90 days pending approval from incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on Monday.
He revoked a 2021 Biden order to allow the new president to sanction the International Criminal Court. The court has recently come under fire from conservative camps in Israel and the United States alike for issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza.
Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization. His withdrawal from WHO shocked many and triggered criticism from health experts and analysts.
The 47th president signed another order called "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats," which increases barriers for those seeking US visas, "particularly those aliens coming from regions or nations with identified security risks." The order will see "enhanced vetting and screening across agencies."
