by Within weeks of President Biden imposing financial sanctions on Israelis accused of violent attacks in the occupied West Bank, crowdfunding campaigns on behalf of two of the men had raised the equivalent of more than $170,000.
Far-right Israelis pledged the funds in a show of support for settlers, whose efforts to exert Israeli control over land in the West Bank have often involved maintaining illegal outposts and attacking and intimidating Palestinians. But the donations have become the focus of a legal battle after an Israeli credit card company refused to transfer the funds.
Cal, the credit card company that processes donations for Yinon Levi, one of the settlers affected by the sanctions, refused to send the money designated for Levi and stated that it would refund those who had donated, according to the nonprofit group who created the crowdfunding campaign. The group appealed to an Israeli court, arguing that the donations were intended for Mr. Levi’s family, including his three children, and should not be affected by the American restrictions.
Last week, a Tel Aviv court issued a temporary injunction while it hears arguments on the matter.
Sanctions that the Biden administration announced on February 1 excluded four Israelis from the US financial system, and some Israeli banks have enacted restrictions on the men so as not to run afoul of the US measures.
Levi, who the US State Department accused of leading groups of settlers in attacks on Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, told ABC News that he had not been able to access his money in Israel and would have difficulty paying his workers. farm. David Chai Chasdai, who the State Department said had led a deadly riot in the Palestinian town of Huwara, told an Israeli television station that he could not pay his children’s phone bills or kindergarten fees.
On February 6, a campaign in support of Mr. Levi, who last week was also sanctioned by Britain, appeared on the Israeli crowdfunding platform Givechack with a photo of him, his wife Sapir Levi and their three children. The campaign portrayed the family as victims of harassment by the Israeli left and emphasized their difficult financial situation since Levi’s accounts were frozen.
Within 10 days, the campaign had raised more than 517,000 Israeli shekels ($141,000). Then the nonprofit group that organized it removed it. Reut Gez, director of the nonprofit Mount Hebron Fund, said in an interview that Cal, the Israeli credit card company, “asked us to dismantle the campaign and we are withholding the funds.” The group sued to have the company give the money to her or a trustee who would manage the funds for the family.
The Mount Hebron Fund was founded in 2015 by the Mount Hebron Regional Council, a state-funded local authority in the West Bank, and is managed by council members and their family members, according to the Democratic Bloc, a group that monitors the far-right. Israeli. . Ms. Gez said all donations to the Levi family came from Israel.
The campaign to support Chasdai has raised 114,000 shekels, approximately $31,000, through a separate crowdfunding platform. Those funds have been raised by the nonprofit Shlom Asiraich, which helps Israeli Jewish extremists imprisoned for serious crimes, including murder, largely against Palestinians.
The crowdfunding efforts show that although most Israelis, according to opinion polls, oppose settler violence, there is sympathy on the far right for those facing financial sanctions. But the sweeping nature of U.S. sanctions means financial institutions would be reluctant to engage in efforts to direct money to Levi or others, experts said.
“The language of the order suggests that anyone who allows or provides funds to sanctioned individuals is implicated and risks repercussions,” said Eliav Lieblich, a law professor at Tel Aviv University. “No one wants to mess with the US Treasury.”
