In a post on his X account, Sa'ar thanked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his ministry for what he described as their "moral clarity in imposing sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and PLO members."
The Israeli Foreign Minister claimed that "the Palestinian Authority must pay a price for its continued policy," as he put it.
He claimed that "this step by the Trump administration reveals the moral deviation of some countries that rushed to recognize a hypothetical Palestinian state while turning a blind eye to the Palestinian Authority's support for incitement."
Earlier Thursday, the United States announced sanctions against Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, alleging they "violated peace commitments by seeking to internationalize the conflict with Israel."
The US State Department said, "The Palestinian Authority and the PLO have violated their obligations by supporting actions in international organizations that are inconsistent with Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338."
She added in a report submitted to Congress, "their failure to comply with their obligations under the Palestine Liberation Organization Compliance Act of 1989 and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002."
In response, Wasil Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, viewed the US State Department's decision as "blatant support and bias for the Israeli occupation" and the ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday evening, the final statement of the two-state solution conference held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, which was boycotted by Washington and Tel Aviv, called for recognition of the State of Palestine and granting it full UN membership, replacing the status it has held since 2012 as a "non-member observer state."
148 of the 193 member states of the United Nations recognize the State of Palestine, which was declared by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
Recently, several countries, including France, Britain, and Canada, have announced their intention to recognize the State of Palestine, and Australia has also threatened to take a similar step.
On Wednesday, 15 Western countries, including France and Spain, issued a collective call to recognize the State of Palestine and to cease fire in Gaza.
Israel and its ally, the United States, often criticize countries that announce their intention to recognize the State of Palestine, and the matter has even reached the point of American threats.
The movement to recognize the State of Palestine is escalating against the backdrop of a genocidal war waged by Israel, with US support, against Gaza since October 7, 2023, in defiance of all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left more than 207,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine and territories in Syria and Lebanon, and refuses to withdraw from these territories and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the pre-1967 borders.
