Israel is surveilling U.S. data on settler attacks to thwart sanctions
By Yuval Abraham - February 14, 2024 - +972 Magazine and Local Call
▻https://www.972mag.com/settler-violence-surveillance-ussc-sanctions
Israel has been surveilling information provided to the United States by the Palestinian Authority regarding settler violence in the occupied West Bank in recent months, +972 Magazine and Local Call have learned.
Sources in Israeli intelligence told both sites that they have been tracking materials passed through private channels by the PA to the Office of U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) in Jerusalem in order to “understand what the U.S. knows about settler violence.” The intention, they explained, is not to act against the perpetrators but to prevent the collected information from “developing into sanctions.”
U.S. officials, who confirmed that PA officials have been sending a great deal of information to the USSC on incidents of settler violence, told +972 and Local Call that this information contributed in part to President Joe Biden’s decision earlier this month to impose sanctions against four settlers known to have attacked Palestinians and left-wing Israeli activists. The officials added that the information led in recent months to the inclusion of dozens of other settlers on a “blacklist” prohibiting their entry into the United States. (...)