Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich on Monday afternoon excoriated the Biden administration for implementing sanctions against four Israeli “settlers” for alleged violence against Palestinians and for subsequent reports that Israeli banks froze the accounts of two of the “settlers” due to the US sanctions.

“Last week, the Biden administration decided, in an unprecedented manner, to impose severe sanctions against citizens of the State of Israel as part of a false and anti-Semitic campaign of ‘settler violence’ led by BDS elements and Israel’s enemies,” Smotrich said.

“The Biden administration is taking measures that are usually taken against terrorists and terrorist organizations and besmirches over half a million law-abiding Israeli settlers who these days are at the forefront of the war on terrorism and are paying, together with Israeli society, unimaginable prices with their lives. The State of Israel cannot accept the action of the US government that marks over half a million residents of Israel as enemies instead of friends and allies.”

“It is unfathomable that an Israeli citizen with Israeli money in an Israeli bank is deprived of rights and assets due to a US order. I am in conversation with the Supervisor of Banks. The conclusion is clear – such a reality must not be allowed. How to do this – we will have to hold an in-depth discussion on the legal and procedural aspects of the matter.”

Smotrich also spoke about the UNWRA. “The UNRWA refugee agency has become another battalion of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” he stressed. “Hamas took over UNWRA and turned it into a fighting force against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers. Our soldiers found weapons and tunnel shafts in all of UNWRA’s facilities in Gaza. UNWRA’s shelters serve as cities of refuge for Nukhba terrorists. The most serious thing is that Hamas is re-establishing its power and its control over Gaza with the help of the humanitarian aid that reaches it.”

“The State of Israel must act with all its power to bring about the closure of the UNWRA as soon as possible, and the IDF must hand over all the materials in its possession that point to UNWRA’s deep involvement in terrorism in order to promote this action. I instructed the professional team at the Finance Ministry to act with all the tools at our disposal to restrict UNWRA’s actions in Gaza, Yehuda and Shomron, and Jerusalem so that we bring about the cessation of its activities and its closure.”

“From the first day of the war, I said in the Cabinet and in relevant forums that the way humanitarian aid enters Gaza needs to be changed. Unfortunately for many weeks, it has been carried out incorrectly. The IDF, as part of the occupation of the Strip, must manage humanitarian aid in Gaza. This is part of the war effort and it serves well the goals of the war – the destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and the return of our hostages.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)