Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Hilltop Youth, a violent extremist group that has repeatedly attacked Palestinians and destroyed Palestinian homes and property in the West Bank, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14115. Through these violent activities, Hilltop Youth is actively destabilizing the West Bank and harming the peace and security of Palestinians and Israelis alike. Hilltop Youth has devastated Palestinian communities and carried out killings, mass arson, and other so-called “price tag” attacks to exact revenge and intimidate Palestinian civilians, and has repeatedly clashed with the Israeli military as it counters their activities. Hilltop Youth is a violent group comprised of extremist Israeli settlers. In organized group violence and “price tag” attacks—a term created by violent settler extremists indicating that acts against their interests would carry a price—Hilltop Youth has conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians, engaging in killings, arson, assaults, and intimidation intended to drive Palestinian communities out of the West Bank. In the April 2024 attack on the Palestinian town of al-Mughayyir, for example, Hilltop Youth set fire to homes, buildings, and vehicles, beat villagers, looted property, including livestock, and left one Palestinian dead. In June 2023, hundreds of members of Hilltop Youth attacked the Palestinian town of Turmus Aiya and burned homes, cars, and fields, leaving another Palestinian dead and others injured. Hilltop Youth has also vandalized churches and mosques, spray-painted hateful graffiti messages on Palestinian-owned property, and uprooted olive trees in its effort to intimidate and spread fear. Israel has declared that perpetrators of “price tag” attacks constitute an illegal organization and Hilltop Youth has been sanctioned in various jurisdictions around the world. OFAC is designating Hilltop Youth pursuant to E.O. 14115 for being a foreign person that is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or participating in an act of violence or threat of violence targeting civilians, affecting the West Bank.
Executive Order 14115 of February 1, 2024 Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank
Regime
OFAC country specific
Target State
West Bank
Measures
Blocking Property, Suspending Entry
Official Information
The United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank and the prospects of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike. This includes attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and Palestinian attacks against Israelis. There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, or religion.
The United States has therefore implemented new measures to address actions that undermine peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. This follows the related visa restriction policy announced by the State Department on December 5, 2023.
The United States has taken action against persons connected to escalating violence against civilians in the West Bank. The Department of State is imposing financial sanctions on four individuals pursuant to a new Executive Order that President Biden announced today to promote accountability for certain harmful activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. The Executive Order establishes U.S. authority to issue financial sanctions against those directing or participating in certain actions, including acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidating civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroying or seizing property, or engaging in terrorist activity in the West Bank.
