EU sanctions hilltop youth, Lehava for human rights violations in the West Bank

• Published date: 19 April 2024
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The abuses include "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and "the violation of [the] right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank," the Council of the EU said in a statement

The listed entities are Lehava, the Jewish extremist group known for campaigns against Jewish-Arab relationships, and what a statement referred to as "Hilltop Youth," a term used to refer to a loosely-organized cluster of extremist, often violent settlement activity that is illegal under Israeli law.

In 2022, National Unity party leader Benny Gantz, now a minister-without-portfolio in the war cabinet, called for Lehava to be designated a terrorist organization. The group is led by Bentzi Gopstein, a far-right activist who was convicted in January of incitement to racism.

Four individuals sanctioned

Two leading...