President Biden on Thursday issued an executive order that targets some Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, imposing financial sanctions and visa bans in an initial round against four individuals. 

The Israeli citizens, considered by Biden officials to be “settlers” living in the “occupied West Bank,” were involved in acts of violence, as well as threats and attempts to destroy or seize Palestinian Arab property, according to the order.

The penalties aim to block the four from using the American financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. American officials said they were evaluating whether to punish others involved in attacks that have intensified during the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr. Biden’s order is a step against America’s closest Mideast ally, which, he says, has the right to defend itself. The Democratic president has pressed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government to show greater restraint in its military operations aimed at rooting out Hamas.

Mr. Netanyahu quickly denounced the American penalties, of which his government was notified in advance, American officials said. “The vast majority of settlers,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement, “are law-abiding citizens, many of them these days are fighting as conscripts and reservists for the defense of Israel.”

Mr. Netanyahu added that Israel “takes action against law-breakers in every place, and therefore there is no place for exceptional steps on this measure.”

Meanwhile the international community, inasmuch as there is one, has grown increasingly wary of the Biden administration’s simplistic reaching for sanctions when confronted with any complex situation beyond America’s borders. Most recently, the White House’s unwieldy approach to sanctioning certain Russian financial reserves has set the European Union on edge. 

In the Middle East, of course, things are different — as well as more volatile and, when it comes to Israel, invariably more politicized. “This violence poses a grave threat to peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, Israel, and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States,” the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement.

Mr. Biden is facing growing criticism for his administration’s support of Israel as casualties mount in the conflict, which began when Hamas, the terrorist group that still nominally rules Gaza, attacked Israel on October 7. 

Mr. Biden’s order notes somewhat unconvincingly that the violence by “settlers” undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives, “including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.”

Biden officials insist on calling for an independent Palestinian state that would exist alongside Israel, a goal that has eluded American presidents and Middle East diplomats for decades. 

The president has spoken out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli “settlers” and pledged that those responsible for the violence will be held accountable. He said in late October that the violence by “extremist settlers” amounted to “pouring gasoline” on the already burning fires in the Middle East. “It has to stop. They have to be held accountable. It has to stop now,” Mr. Biden said.

Israel Defense Forces stepped up raids across Judea and Samaria after the war began. Hamas terrorists are present there, but largely operate underground. 

Israel’s wartime mobilization of 300,000-plus reservists included the call-up of “settlers” for duty, and many were put in charge of policing their own communities. The military said that in some cases, reservists who live in settlements replaced regular Judea and Samaria battalions deployed in the war.

The order will give the Department of the Treasury the authority to impose financial sanctions on “settlers” engaged in violence, but is not meant to target American citizens. A substantial number of the Jewish “settlers” are Yanks, and they would be prohibited under American law from transacting with the sanctioned individuals.

In a letter last month, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin, asked the White House to take action against any Yankee involved in attacks against Palestinians. He said that could include criminal charges and financial sanctions.

“There’s got to be a strong message against the extreme activities taken by some settlers on the West Bank, jeopardizing the lives of Palestinians as well as the peace in the region,” Mr. Cardin told reporters Thursday.

In conjunction with the executive order, the Department of the Treasury issued an alert to financial institutions to look out for transactions that might benefit “extremist” individuals in Judea and Samaria. The alert provides banks with four possible red flags to consider when determining whether to mark transactions to the department as suspicious. They include transactions with nonprofits related to “extremist” individuals and groups, memo-line data that suggests support for extremism, and purchases of tactical gear for nongovernmental use in the “West Bank.”

Mr. Biden’s order was released not long before a visit to Michigan, a key presidential battleground state where his campaign team has seen signs of a growing rift from Arab and Muslim “leaders” over his handling of the war.

When the National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, was asked whether the timing of the order was related to domestic pressure facing Mr. Biden, Mr. Kirby said, “Not at all.” However, Mr. Kirby also said that officials have been working since November on potential action to respond to violence by the “settlers” in question.