American Jews sue Biden administration, calling sanctions ‘unconstitutional’


A federal lawsuit filed Thursday claims the Biden administration is illegally sanctioning Israel and U.S. citizens in the West Bank.

The National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), along with Zell Aron & Co. and Marcus & Marcus LLC, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Biden administration’s Executive Order (EO) 14115.

The lawsuit is the second of its kind over what lawyers say are unprecedented and unconstitutional sanctions against Jews living in Israel and the West Bank, including plaintiffs Levi Yitzchak Pilant and Issachar Manne and other U.S. citizens.

Following the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, President Biden signed a executive order (EO) to impose sanctions in February 2024 against “those who undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank.”

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Manny on his farm.

Mann on his farm. (Manny Family)

Biden said, When announcing an executive order, The situation in the West Bank, in particular the severe violence by extremist settlers, the forced displacement of people and villages and the destruction of property, has reached intolerable proportions and poses a serious threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank as well as Gaza, Israel and the wider Middle East. “

As a result, sanctioned individuals have had their bank accounts frozen, credit cards canceled, and face being unable to carry out basic life activities. Critics say the move allows the government to sanction Israeli Jews who disagree with government policies, which they say violates the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens in Israel and their supporters in the United States.

EO 14115 authorizes economic sanctions against “foreigners” who act in conflict with the Biden administration’s policies in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, but the lawsuit says the provisions only apply to individuals who are Jewish.

“When you have a double standard that only sanctions Jews, when you punish Jews for their simple actions in a place where you don’t want them to be Jewish, there’s a word for it, it’s not pretty,” NJAC CEO Mark Mark Goldfeder said.

Additionally, the lawsuit criticizes the State Department’s lack of investigation into the alleged allegations, arguing that they relied almost entirely on biased reporting by radical anti-Israel groups that was filled with demonstrably false accusations.

Pillante was sanctioned on August 28, 2024, for “malign activities beyond the scope of his authority,” including leading “a group of armed settlers in setting up roadblocks and patrols, pursuing and attacking Palestinians on their land, and Forcibly evict them from their homes.” land. ”

The lawsuit insists he never committed violence against Palestinians.

“The State Department’s accusations are completely false and appear to be based on a ‘comprehensive dossier’ submitted days before sanctions against the Democratic Organization for the Arab World (“DAWN”), an organization whose board members have ties to extremists. Both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have praised Hamas was not even able to find out Plaintiff Pilant’s last name,” the lawsuit states.

In fact, the lawsuit states, the U.S. State Department has recognized Pilant as a bona fide security officer of the Israeli government who was authorized to respond to threats to the security of Israeli citizens and who was serving when organizing patrols and roadblocks as part of the government. mission.

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A photo taken in the village of Turmus Aya near the city of Ramallah on February 18, 2024, with the Israeli settlement of Shiloh near the occupied West Bank in the background.

A photo taken on February 18, 2024, in the village of Turms Aya, near the city of Ramallah, with the nearby Israeli settlement of Hilo in the background. (Getty Images)

Mani and the “Mani Farms Outpost” were also sanctioned by the U.S. State Department on July 11, 2024, on the grounds that “settlers at the outpost regularly attack community shepherds and prevent them from accessing pastures belonging to the Palestinian community.” Reclaiming pasture through violent acts. ”

However, his lawyers argued that he “never occupied nor attempted to occupy privately owned Palestinian land or land designated as private or restricted by the Israeli government.” In fact, his overall policy is to graze about 130 sheep in a non-natural reserve. Owned by private individuals, either Israeli or Palestinian.

Both Pillante and Manny argued that as a result of the sanctions, their bank accounts and credit cards were frozen, they were unable to pay their mortgages and their finances and reputations were harmed.

fox news numbers reported before A group of Israelis filed a similar lawsuit against the government challenging the constitutionality of the first sanctions regime, but this is the first time a sanctioned individual has challenged the order. The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens who claim the sanctions violate their due process and equal protection rights.

Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason University School of Law who served as NJAC counsel and a member of the legal team in the first legal case challenging the sanctions, said the administration’s actions were based on a shocking idea: Certain lands are essentially “Palestinian.”

“American Jews have had their bank accounts frozen and their lives turned upside down, all because of people who believe they have no right to live in the West Bank,” he said.

Kontorovich has previously argued that “violence” is defined by anti-Israel groups and can apply to Jews who defend themselves in an “arbitrary” manner against Palestinian attackers, relying on UNHCR website data. The Center for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) classified Jewish acts of self-defense and the Israel Defense Forces’ counterterrorism operations as settler violence, the lawsuit said.

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Israel shooting scene

Israeli officials work at the scene of a shooting by Palestinian gunmen near the settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 22, 2024. (Reuters photo)

For example, a Palestinian who was shot dead after breaking into a Jewish farm in the northern West Bank armed with a knife and explosives was listed by the United Nations as a victim of “settler violence,” the lawsuit said.

“This is all the more striking because thousands of Palestinians have participated in terrorist attacks against Jewish civilians that undoubtedly threaten ‘the peace, security or stability of the West Bank,'” the lawsuit added.

In 2024, the lawsuit states, Palestinians experienced 1,040 significant attempts on Jewish life: 689 shootings, 326 explosives, 13 stabbings, 9 drive-by attacks, 2 suicide attacks and 1 kidnapping event. A total of 231 attacks were successful, resulting in 46 deaths and 337 injuries.

NJAC litigation attorney Matthew Mainen added that the Biden administration’s “lazy and clearly politically motivated executive order has targeted Israel’s community’s first line of defense, Israel Defense Forces officer Levi Yitzhak Pilant.” Levi Yitzhak Pilant and Israeli citizen Issachar Manne, among others, undermine Israel’s security by imposing sanctions on Jews who dare to defend themselves and their land from terrorist attacks.”

“The administration didn’t even bother to check whether these individuals were U.S. citizens before sanctioning them as ‘foreigners,’ exposing a sad feud that we are now seeking to correct,” he said.

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fox news numbers CNN reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.



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