(JNS) Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned the Bank of Israel on Wednesday that he was considering promoting legislation which would allow Israeli citizens to sue financial institutions if they comply with foreign sanctions imposed on residents of Judea and Samaria.
In a letter to Daniel Hahiashvili, who supervises financial institutions on behalf of the Bank of Israel, Smotrich said he would “immediately promote legislation that will impose high compensation payments on the banks for clients harmed as a result of the banks’ compliance” if Israeli institutions choose to cooperate with international measures.
The finance minister said he penned the missive against the backdrop of widespread reports that the European Union is considering imposing personal sanctions on Israeli Jews living in Judea and Samaria under Brussels’ wide-reaching global human rights sanctions regime.
Such sanctions would represent a “severe blow to the sovereignty and independence of the State of Israel and a blatant and improper interference in its internal affairs by foreign states,” according to Smotrich, who noted that “citizens acting in Judea and Samaria are doing so under the authority, and with the mandate, of the state.”
Israeli banks have largely cooperated with the restrictions imposed on the residents of Judea and Samaria since the Biden administration became the first to announce a sanctions regime in February 2024.
Smotrich in his letter accused the country’s banks of adopting a “zero-risk policy that reflects a narrow-minded approach and a complete disregard for the price of complying with sanctions.”
The minister added, “A situation in which banks cooperate with the sanctions almost automatically and without even voicing protest is unacceptable. This, of course, does not replace or absolve the state’s obligation to act on the matter, and to the best of my knowledge, the relevant authorities are doing so through the appropriate channels.”
He noted that financial institutions have “significant capacity to act against the sanctions and reduce their own risk without shifting the burden onto the sanctioned client,” including by filing lawsuits in foreign courts and at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg City.
“Their massive profits in recent years allow them to conduct such legal proceedings without difficulty,” Smotrich emphasized in the letter.
In a joint statement issued on May 19, the United Kingdom, France and Canada warned that they would “not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” if Jerusalem continued to expand communities in Judea and Samaria.
“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians,” the leaders of the three countries declared. (Europe, like many countries around the world, refers to Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)
The European Union has currently designated nine Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria under its global human rights sanctions regime: Neria Ben Pazi, Meir Ettinger, Bentzi Gopstein, Yinon Levi, Issachar Manne, Baruch Marzel, Moshe Sharvit, Elisha Yered and Zvi Bar Yosef.
