Australia sanctions Hilltop Youth, more international sanctions expected

Australians are forbidden from supporting West Bank settler organisation Hilltop Youth under new sanctions imposed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Hilltop Youth is a hardline, religious-nationalist youth group that establishes outposts in the West Bank and has been involved in repeated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The sanctions also target seven settlers who have been involved in violence against Palestinians: Yinon Levi, Zvi Bar Yosef, Neria Ben Pazi, Elisha Yered, David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, and Meir Ettinger.

These individuals are banned from entering Australia under the Magnitsky-style sanctions, a system of sanctions that targets individuals guilty of serious human rights violations and abuses.

“The individuals sanctioned today have been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians. This includes beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death. The entity sanctioned is a youth group that is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinian communities,” said Wong.

“We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution.”

The move follow similar sanctions imposed by several other countries including the US, Canada and Japan.

Wong said the Albanese government has been firm and consistent that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law and a significant obstacle to peace.