Online fundraisers for violent West Bank settlers raised thousands, despite international sanctions

Source: Associated Press

Online fundraisers for violent West Bank settlers raised thousands, despite international sanctions

BY JULIA FRANKEL
Updated 6:30 AM EST, February 23, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — When the Biden administration imposed sanctions this month against Israeli settler Yinon Levi for allegedly assaulting Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, his supporters quickly sprang into action.

Within days, an online fundraiser collected over $140,000 for Levi and his unauthorized settler outpost from over 3,000 donors worldwide. Now, those contributions may be putting donors, crowdfunding sites and the financial services firms that process the payments at risk of penalties for violating the U.S. sanctions.

“It’s not even a close call,” said Britt Mosman, a former attorney at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. government agency that enforces sanctions.

She said any American who donates money to a sanctioned person or group puts themself at risk. “It is a pretty straightforward application of the sanctions prohibitions,” she said.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-sanctions-settlers-biden-west-bank-85cee76d68c17091d9b4d3e14f3eeb74