US activists call for blacklisting of Israeli settler ‘Hilltop Youths’

American activists have called for their government to blacklist the radical Jewish settler gangs known as “Hilltop Youths”, which are backed by the Israeli government, Maan News Agency reported on Monday. The activists called for the US administration to add the gangs to the list of terrorist entities.

The call has been made amidst an escalation of settler violence against the Palestinians as settlement expansion is intensified and settlers become more aggressive against non-Jews and their property. Some of the settler attacks are deadly. The latest was the killing of an unarmed Palestinian youth in the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah on Friday.

According to Maan, the activists blame the Israeli occupation government for the settler violence because it does not deter them or hold them accountable for their crimes. They expect that an international campaign might lead to the blacklisting of the settler gangs, as happened in the past with the designation of the Kahane terrorist movement.

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