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Unsanction Israel

(National Review) Cole S. Aronson and Prof. Avi Bell - President Biden's sanctions regime against Israelis "for undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank" violates several standards of sanctions policy. America almost never sanctions other democracies. Americans respect the desire of other self-governing peoples to govern themselves, rather than to obey coercive dictates from Washington. If America cannot peacefully persuade another democracy to change its ways, America lives with it. America sanctions rogue states and non-state groups that brutalize people lacking recourse to courts or democratic institutions. Think China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. Or the terror groups and states within states in Yemen and Sudan. American sanctions policy now classes Israel with the world's worst regimes, including Iran, a state sponsor of terror officially dedicated to Israel's destruction. Actually, American sanctions now treat Israel worse than Iran: by targeting the speech of its citizens. Sanctioning Israel in wartime also advances the best hope of Israel's enemies - to isolate Israel from its friends. Moreover, the sanctions regime the administration has set up grossly misidentifies the culprit. West Bank Palestinians have committed hundreds of terrorist attacks and killed at least 20 Israelis since Oct. 7, 2023. Nearly all alleged incidents of West Bank Jews committing violence against Arabs involve property crimes. Settler violence is so infrequent that the Biden administration has struggled to find perpetrators to sanction. Instead, it has sanctioned persons never accused of violence or already dealt with by the Israeli authorities. Meanwhile, endemic Palestinian property crimes against Jews remain under-prosecuted by Israel, ignored or encouraged by the Palestinian Authority, and unsanctioned by America. At a recent Israeli parliament meeting, both opponents and supporters of the Netanyahu government condemned the sanctions regime. Americans should join with Israelis in opposing this intervention in Israeli public life - to protect their own free-speech rights and to support an American security partner. Cole S. Aronson is a journalist in Jerusalem. Avi Bell is a professor of law at Bar-Ilan University and the University of San Diego.
2024-11-21 00:00:00
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