The Biden administration has been easing sanctions on Iran over the past year. Meanwhile it is using a recent executive order to impose unprecedented sanctions on Jews in Israel who disagree with the administration’s policies. The sanctions violate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens in Israel and their supporters in America.

This week an American Christian Zionist nonprofit, Texans for Israel, and several American Jews living in Israel filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas challenging the sanctions regime on free-speech, due-process and equal-protection grounds.

The first part of Mr. Biden’s executive order permits the imposition of sanctions on anyone the administration regards as involved in undermining “peace” or “stability” in the West Bank—even if there is no allegation of criminal conduct or violence. This directive is far-reaching because the administration deems Jews merely living in the West Bank—and certainly building or buying homes there—as “obstacles to peace.” An internal administration memo described the sanctions as targeted at those who “disrupt or prevent efforts to achieve a two-state solution.” The administration also views Jews visiting their holy sites as “provocative.”

Texans for Israel affirms the right of the Jewish people to live in their historical homeland, which includes Judea and Samaria. The organization provides charitable support to Jewish farmers and communities in those areas and brings them on speaking tours to Texas to educate Americans about the importance of Jewish presence in the Holy Land.

Yet the Treasury Department has issued a “red flag” advisory on any transactions with what it vaguely calls West Bank “outposts.” As the notice makes clear, this directive is in line with the broader administration stance, which “has consistently opposed the expansion of Israeli settlements.” Because the administration believes Jews shouldn’t move to this area, Americans who disagree are threatened with sanctions.

Sanctions are strong medicine. When the U.S. government imposes sanctions on an individual, his bank accounts and those of his immediate family will be frozen. Anyone who provides any “funds, goods, or services” to them may in turn be subjected to sanctions as well. These are harsh measures typically reserved for terrorists and dictators. Texans for Israel’s support for Judea and Samaria settlements—by hosting speaking events or donating to Israeli advocacy groups—is an exercise of its First Amendment rights. But because of the breadth of the executive order, which sweeps in vast amounts of perfectly legal conduct, it faces massive financial risks that unconstitutionally chill its free speech.

If the Biden administration is permitted to do this, a different administration down the line could freeze the bank accounts of Americans who support left-wing Israeli groups simply by deeming their activities bad for peace and stability in the West Bank. Sanctions have never been used to silence policy disagreements like this.

While the talking points for the executive order invoked the bogeyman of “Israeli violent extremist settlers,” that isn’t how it works in practice. Last month the U.S. froze the bank accounts of Reut Ben Haim, a mother of eight who lives inside the Green Line. Her offense? She is one the founders of a grassroots movement known as Tzav 9, which has demonstrated against the U.S.-backed provision of supplies to Gaza, much of which is usurped by Hamas, since the start of the war. Tzav 9 protests involve blocking traffic (a tactic common to protest movements, including pro-Hamas demonstrations in America), and it has categorically denounced violence. Indeed, senior U.S. officials have described it as engaged in “protest activity.”

Vice President Kamala Harris raised money to bail out demonstrators during the sometimes-violent Black Lives Matter protests that rocked Minnesota in the summer of 2020. Yet members of Tzav 9 who protest against material support to Hamas, a U.S. designated terror organization, find themselves in the Biden administration’s crosshairs. Ms. Ben Haim’s husband, a U.S. citizen and one of the plaintiffs in the suit, had his accounts frozen because of his wife’s activism, the lawsuit alleges. He can neither support his family nor peacefully advocate his views, a violation of his basic due process and free speech rights.

A separate provision of the executive order applies to violent conduct. Palestinian terror is rampant in Judea and Samaria. In the first half of 2023, Palestinians murdered 28 Israelis and wounded 362. Violent acts by Jews are a tiny fraction of those committed by Palestinians against Jews, and they are almost overwhelmingly property crimes. Even these have declined steadily since Oct. 7. Meanwhile Palestinian violence has increased.

While the order speaks generally of violence by any party in the West Bank, in practice it has been used to target Jews. The lawsuit alleges that the administration bases its sanctions decisions on United Nations data, without independent verification. The U.N. in turn relies on uncorroborated reports from anti-Israel organizations like B’tselem. These groups classify acts of self-defense by Jews and even antiterror operations by the Israel Defense Forces as settler violence. When a Palestinian was shot dead last year while breaking into a Jewish farm in the northern West Bank armed with a knife and explosives, the U.N. labeled him a victim of “extremist settlers.”

One of the plaintiffs, Ari Abramowitz, is a U.S. citizen from Texas who runs a sheep farm overlooking the Dead Sea. He has been repeatedly attacked by rock-throwing Palestinian terrorists. Because the administration affords even U.S. citizens no due process before imposing sanctions, if Mr. Abramowitz, who is not subject to sanctions, is ambushed again, he must choose between his safety and the possibility of financial ruin. Palestinians face no such threat. No Palestinian terrorists have been sanctioned under this order.

The White House is putting the lives of American Jews living in the West Bank at risk and denying them the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the laws. Soon they will get their day in court.

First published in The Wall Street Journal (“Biden’s Unconstitutional Sanctions on Supporters of Israel” Aug 6, 2024)