A federal lawsuit was filed on Thursday challenging the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14115, which sanctions American citizens in Israel and the West Bank. The lawsuit, filed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Inc. (NJAC), along with Zell Aron & Co. and Marcus & Marcus LLC, argues that the sanctions are unconstitutional and unprecedented.
The lawsuit claims that the sanctions have had a devastating impact on the lives of American citizens like Levi Yitzchak Pilant and Issachar Manne, who have had their bank accounts frozen, credit cards canceled, and are unable to conduct basic life activities. The lawsuit argues that the sanctions are a violation of the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens in Israel and their supporters in America.
The lawsuit also criticizes the State Department for its lack of investigation into the alleged claims, arguing that they instead relied almost entirely on biased reports made by radical anti-Israel groups full of demonstrably false allegations.
Pilant was sanctioned on August 28, 2024, for “malign activities outside the scope of his authority” including leading a group of armed settlers to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands. However, the lawsuit maintains that he has never engaged in violence against Palestinians at any time.
Manne was also sanctioned by the State Department on July 11, 2024, for establishing a farm on pastureland belonging to the Palestinian community, arguing that settlers from the outpost regularly attack community shepherds and prevent their access to pastureland through acts of violence. However, his lawyers argue that he has never appropriated, nor has he sought to appropriate, land under private Palestinian ownership or otherwise designated by the Israeli government as private or restricted.
The lawsuit argues that the sanctions are based on a shocking idea that certain land is inherently “Palestinian” and that American Jews are being targeted for no better reason than that people who think they have no right to live in the West Bank have pointed fingers at them.
The lawsuit is the second of its kind against the Biden administration’s sanctions, with a similar lawsuit filed by a group of Israelis challenging the constitutionality of the sanctions regime. The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens who allege that the sanctions violate their Due Process and Equal Protection rights.
The State Department had no comment on the lawsuit.