Weekly Commentary: President Biden Deputizes State Department To Engage In Lawfare Against Israel Without Needing A Court

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Weekly Commentary: President Biden Deputizes State Department To Engage In Lawfare Against Israel Without Needing A CourtWeekly Commentary: President Biden Deputizes State Department To Engage In
Lawfare Against Israel Without Needing A Court
Dr. Aaron Lerner 1 February 2023

Just two days after CIA Director Burns, acting as America’s “honest broker”
in negotiations to free the hostages, made clear in his Foreign Affairs
article that America’s goal is for Israel to stop its operations in the Gaza
Strip while accepting Hezbollah’s continued strategic threat in the north we
now have President Biden issuing an Executive Order which appoints the State
Department as judge, jury, and executioner to act against Israelis.

The full text of the Executive Order follows below this commentary.

This order can be extended to apply to:

Knesset members as well as Israelis who run for the Knesset who advocate
policies which the Secretary of State believes to ” threaten the peace,
security, or stability of the West Bank”.

Soldiers, cops and judges engaged in directing, enacting, implementing,
enforcing, or failing to enforce policies that, according to the Secretary
of State, threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank

Building contractors, residents, visitors, suppliers, etc. who in any way
act in a manner which constitutes implementing policies that, according to
the Secretary of State, threaten the peace, security, or stability of the
West Bank.

Any Israeli involved in implementing the court ordered demolition of a
terrorist’s home? [The term “civilian” is not defined in the order.]

Anyone who provides goods or services to or engages in commerce with to any
of the above.

A technical note: The Executive Order defines “terrorism” to be “an
activity that involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life,
property, or infrastructure and appears to be intended to intimidate or
coerce a civilian population. An honest Secretary of State would find
himself taking action against a hundred times as many Palestinians as
Israeli as this is the ratio between Palestinian and Israeli “terror”.

==================
FEBRUARY 01, 2024

Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions on Persons Undermining Peace,
Security, and Stability in the West Bank

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National
Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) and section
215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and
8 U.S.C. 1185(a)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, find
that the situation in the West Bank – in particular high levels of extremist
settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property
destruction – has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious
threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza,
Israel, and the broader Middle East region. These actions undermine the
foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a
two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal
measures of security, prosperity, and freedom. They also undermine the
security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional
destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel
and interests. For these reasons, these actions constitute an unusual and
extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the
United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that
threat. Accordingly, I hereby order:

Section 1. All property and interests in property that are in the
United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or
hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person,
including any foreign branch, of the following persons are blocked and may
not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

(a) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary of the
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly
or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any of the following:

(A) actions – including directing, enacting, implementing,
enforcing, or failing to enforce policies – that threaten the peace,
security, or stability of the West Bank; or

(B) planning, ordering, otherwise directing, or
participating in any of the following actions affecting the West Bank:

(1) an act of violence or threat of violence targeting
civilians;

(2) efforts to place civilians in reasonable fear of
violence with the purpose or effect of necessitating a change of residence
to avoid such violence;

(3) property destruction; or

(4) seizure or dispossession of property by private
actors;

(ii) to be or have been a leader or official of:

(A) an entity, including any government entity, that has
engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, any of the activities
described in subsections (a) or (b) of this section related to the leader’s
or official’s tenure; or

(B) an entity whose property and interests in property are
blocked pursuant to this order as a result of activities relating to the
leader’s or official’s tenure;

(iii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided
financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to
or in support of, any person blocked pursuant to this order; or

(iv) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported
to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person blocked
pursuant to this order; or

(b) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury:

(i) to have committed or have attempted to commit, to pose a
significant risk of committing, or to have participated in training to
commit acts of terrorism affecting the West Bank; or

(ii) to be a leader or official of an entity sanctioned pursuant
to subsection (b)(i) of this section.

Sec. 2. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order apply except to
the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or
licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any
contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of
this order.

Sec. 3. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order include:

(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or
services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; and

(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or
services from any such person.

Sec. 4. (a) The unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into
the United States of noncitizens determined to meet one or more of the
criteria in section 1 of this order would be detrimental to the interests of
the United States, and the entry of such persons into the United States, as
immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended, except when the Secretary
of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, determines
that the person’s entry would not be contrary to the interests of the United
States, including when the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland
Security, as appropriate, so determines, based on a recommendation of the
Attorney General, that the person’s entry would further important United
States law enforcement objectives.

(b) The Secretary of State shall implement this order as it applies to
visas pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of State, in consultation
with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish.

(c) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall implement this order as
it applies to the entry of noncitizens pursuant to such procedures as the
Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State,
may establish.

(d) Such persons shall be treated by this section in the same manner
as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011
(Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council
Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).

Sec. 5. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of
evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of
the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth
in this order is prohibited.

Sec. 6. I hereby determine that the making of donations of the types
of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)) by,
to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in
property are blocked pursuant to this order would seriously impair my
ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I
hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.

Sec. 7. For the purposes of this order:

(a) the term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint
venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;

(b) the term “noncitizen” means any person who is not a citizen or
noncitizen national of the United States;

(c) the term “person” means an individual or entity;

(d) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen,
lawful permanent resident, entity organized under the laws of the United
States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign
branches), or any person in the United States; and

(e) the term “terrorism” means an activity that:

(i) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life,
property, or infrastructure; and

(ii) appears to be intended:

(A) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(B) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation
or coercion; or

(C) to affect the conduct of a government by mass
destruction, assassination, kidnapping, or hostage-taking.

Sec. 8. For those persons whose property and interests in property are
blocked or affected by this order who might have a constitutional presence
in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds
and other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures
to be taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual.
I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing
the national emergency declared in this order, there need be no prior notice
of a listing or determination made pursuant to this order.

Sec. 9. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, is authorized to take such actions, including the
promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to
the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this
order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law,
redelegate any of these functions within the Department of the Treasury.
All executive departments and agencies of the United States shall take all
appropriate measures within their authority to implement this order.

Sec. 10. Nothing in this order shall prohibit transactions for the
conduct of the official business of the Federal Government or the United
Nations (including its specialized agencies, programs, funds, and related
organizations) by employees, grantees, and contractors thereof.

Sec. 11. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, is authorized to submit recurring and final reports to
the Congress on the national emergency declared in this order, consistent
with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of
IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).

Sec. 12. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or
otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or
agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its
officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 1, 2024.
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il