Trump's Reversal of West Bank Sanctions Accidentally Removes Terror Group Linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Treasury Sanctions List
President's Mass Cancellation of Biden-Era Executive Orders Undid Sanctions Against Militant Group Lion's Den
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foriegn Assets Control today dropped all sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration’s Executive Order 14115 against organizations and persons “undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” OFAC removed the sanctions as a result of President Donald Trump’s January 20th order cancelling dozens of Biden-era executive orders.
The goal of Trump’s cancellation of Executive Order 14115 was to relieve sanctions against Israeli settler groups whose actions the U.S. felt destablized the West Bank. But the President’s total cancellation of Executive Order 14115 also resulted in the dropping of OFAC’s sanctions against Arin al-Usud, a Palestininan terrorist organization in the West Bank that was sanctioned by the Biden Administration in June 2024 for undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.
Known as Lion’s Den in English, the Eurpoean Council on Foriegn Relations’ Mapping Palestinian Politics reports that Arin al-Usud grew out of the Nablus Battalion, a group linked to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah factions. Mondoweiss and Al Jazeera reported that Lion’s Den was targeting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Israeli settlers in particular. Described by the New York Times as the “foremost” of a wave of new militant organizations fighting Israel in the West Bank, Lion’s Den had the largest social media presence of any Palestinian faction and was known for inspiring “lone-wolf” attacks. While some later reports indicated the group had become dormant, the U.S. State Department said Lion’s Den had been involved in attacks as late as April 2024.
The fact that Trump's indiscriminate cancellation of 61 of President Biden’s executive orders inadvertently led to the removal of sanctions against Lion’s Den raises questions about the slegehammer approach the President is taking at the opening of his second term and his understanding of and committment to the sanctions regime overseen by OFAC. Like King Darius before him, Trump is finding out that decrees sometimes have unintended consequences.