The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, warned last week that countries participating in boycotts of Israel could face U.S. retaliation, raising the prospect of sanctions against Britain and other European governments.
But Washington still has yet to clarify its policy, and it remains unclear whether the Trump administration plans to move forward with retaliatory measures.
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Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said the uncertainty comes against a complicated history of U.S. policy toward Israeli settlements and BDS.
“Israeli settlements have always existed in a gray area when it comes to U.S. opposition to BDS. President Obama excepted West Bank settlements from his enforcement of anti-BDS laws, and Biden sanctioned certain settler activities while officially opposing BDS.”
He said that ambiguity appears to have carried into the Trump administration as tensions between Israel and European governments over settlement policy have increased.
“This gray area now seems to be carrying over to the Trump administration, where coherent and consistent policymaking has never been a strong suit, precisely as the West Bank and U.S.-European ties become particularly tense more generally,” Ruhe said.
Ruhe also pointed to the administration’s previous responses to European actions targeting Israel as a possible indication of how Washington could respond to the latest measures.
“Though Amb. Huckabee repeatedly called settler violence ‘acts of terror’ and ‘criminal activity’ over the summer, Europe’s latest threats follow a pattern where the administration jumps at the opportunity to retaliate for sanctions, embargoes, and arrest warrants aimed at Israel from Europe,” Ruhe said.
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Read the full piece in JewishInsider.