Canada sanctions Israeli extremists, settler groups over violence against Palestinians
List of sanctioned individuals includes far-right leaders Bentzi Gopstein and Daniella Weiss; move latest made by Israeli allies to confront settler violence
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Canada announced Thursday sanctions against seven Israelis and five organizations for “their violent and destabilizing actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.”
The organizations are the Amana association, which lobbies for, develops and builds West Bank settlements and outposts; Lehava, which opposes intermarriage and the assimilation of Jews with Arabs and tries to stifle public activities by non-Jews in Israel; The Hilltop Youth, an assortment of usually young Israelis who build illegal outposts throughout the West Bank; Moshe’s Farm, also known as Tirza Valley outpost, which was established in January 2021; and Zvi’s Farm, near the Halamish settlement.
Lehava founder Bentzi Gopstein and settler activist Daniella Weiss were also listed, as were Shalom Zicherman, Meir Mordechai Ettinger, Ely Federman, Elisha Yered, and Einan Ben-Nir Amram Tanjil.
The sanctions were met with backlash from Israel’s far-right.
“Several Zionist movements that have been engaged in the holy work of building our country for many years continue to receive sanctions from many countries due to political decisions,” far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X.
“Today’s decision by the Canadian government to join the ranks of countries that have decided to harass settlers in Judea and Samaria is a clear antisemitic decision,” he said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
“The common denominator of all the sanctions and all the countries imposing them is an attempt to reward the terror and massacre committed by Hamas against Israeli citizens and to force us to establish a terror state in Judea and Samaria, a state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel,” far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote.
Gopstein, a Ben Gvir confidant, is a leading figure in Israel’s extremist right and has been charged with inciting violence and racism. He was sanctioned by the US and EU in April.
The previous government weighed designating his Lehava movement as a terror organization.
Weiss is considered among the founders and pioneers of the settler movement., having also served as mayor of the settlement Kedumim between the years 1996-2007. In a recent CNN interview, Weiss called for ethnically cleansing the whole Land of Israel of Arabs.
Zicherman is a resident of a small illegal outpost in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank called Mitzpe Yair. In June 2022, he was caught on camera hurling rocks at the cars of Israeli peace activists and Palestinian journalists.
Ettinger is a far-right activist who was held in administrative detention between 2015-2016. He is also the grandson of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane.
Federman, who also lives in the Meitarim Farm outpost, was accused of involvement “in multiple incidents against Palestinian shepherds” south of Hebron.
Yered is considered the unofficial spokesperson of the Hilltop Youth. He served as spokesperson for far-right lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech of Otzma Yehudit. After resigning from that position, he was arrested on suspicion of taking part in the killing of a Palestinian.
Tanjil is principally known for participating in an attack in 2021 on Israeli activists who were assisting Palestinians to harvest olives in an olive grove located between the Palestinian village of Surif and the settlement of Bat Ayin in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem.
Canada announced in May for the first time sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of committing acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The United Kingdom, France, the European Union, and the United States have taken similar measures in recent months.
The sanctions are a result of Israel’s allies’ increasing intolerance toward settler violence in the West Bank.
Tensions in the area have been high since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw terrorists from Gaza infiltrate Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 4,200 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,750 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 540 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. During the same period, 21 Israelis, including security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another four members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
