UK targets Israeli settlers and Hezbollah bank in new sanctions
The five settlers named in the sanctions are Avichai Suissa, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion Gopstein, Eliav Libi, and Meir Ettinger
The UK announced sanctions against five extremist settlers on Tuesday in addition to general sanctions against all goods from the West Bank.
The five settlers named are Avichai Suissa, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion Gopstein, Eliav Libi, and Meir Ettinger, each sanctioned for human rights abuses.
Suissa has been sanctioned due to his leadership of Hashomer Yosh, which provides material and logistical support to outposts that are illegal under Israeli law, several of which have already been sanctioned by the UK and the EU.
Marzel, the former spokesman for Kach and Meir Kahane, was sanctioned for facilitating, inciting, promoting, and providing support for violence against Palestinians, as well as for calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Gopstein, founder and director of the far-right extremist organization Lehava, has been sanctioned for his leadership of the organization.
Libi was targeted due to his ownership of a construction company that supports the construction of illegal outposts.
Ettinger, the grandson of Meir Kahane, was sanctioned for his involvement with the Hilltop Youth, who are regularly accused of engaging in price-tag attacks against Palestinians. Ettinger was banned from the West Bank due to his connection to the 2015 Duma arson attack, which killed three people, including an 18-month-old, although he was never charged with a crime.
The UK also announced sanctions against Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH) bank.
AQAH has long been considered the financial arm of Hezbollah, laundering money and financing the terrorist organization. The US sanctioned the bank in 2007 and the Lebanese Central Bank issued memos prohibiting all financial institutions in the country from dealing with AQAH.
During IDF operations against Hezbollah in 2024, Israel struck several branches of the bank in Lebanon. In May of this year, Israel struck several more branches of the bank, leading to a serious financial crisis for Hezbollah.
In August, the New York Times reported that Hezbollah had been forced to suspend its social welfare programs after it was unable to secure sufficient funds, forcing the organization to rely on informal international banking methods.