The United States has banned Israeli military and air defense advertisements on the country’s television and radio stations, the State Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The United Nations and other foreign agencies had previously urged the U.N. Security Council to ban the Israeli military’s broadcasts, but it has yet to take up the issue.
“The United States is committed to a two-state solution,” the statement said.
The Israeli army has long used its TV and radio broadcasts to attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as to call for a Palestinian state.
The military also broadcasts from the Urumqi International Airport in northern China.
The U.K. and Germany are among the countries that have imposed sanctions on the Israeli army.
The announcement comes after Israel’s cabinet approved the bill Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party joining with the ruling Zionist Union and other Zionist parties to approve the move.
The decision will come in the wake of a string of incidents, including the death of three Palestinian men who were shot by Israeli forces.
In one of the incidents, a soldier opened fire at an Arab woman who was driving a taxi near Jerusalem.
The Palestinian taxi driver survived the attack.
The latest incident was on Jan. 6, when an Israeli soldier fired at a Palestinian family on a crowded bus in Jerusalem, killing an 11-year-old boy.
The army said that soldier opened the door of the bus, and that the driver ran away.
