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Some 88 Democratic lawmakers urged U.S. President Joe Biden to sanction members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over anti-Palestinian violence in the West Bank, according to a letter released on Thursday. Urging Biden to send a message to U.S. partners before he leaves office, the members of Congress said Israeli cabinet members Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had incited violence by Israeli settlers. "We write to express our deep concern about the rise in settler violence, settlement expansion, and measures adopted to weaken the Palestinian Authority and otherwise destabilize the West Bank," they said in the letter. The letter, was signed by 17 senators and 71 House members. The letter was dated Oct. 29 but made public on Thursday because the lawmakers had not had a response from the White House.