On Tuesday night, the US Senate rejected, along largely partisan lines, a Democratic resolution that would have forced the State Department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine US citizens by settlers or Israeli security forces in recent years. The resolution, led by Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, would have given the State Department 30 days to report to Congress on those deaths and on broader human rights conditions in the territory, including Israel’s detention of Palestinian children. The resolution failed to advance by a vote of 47 to 51. Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman joined Republicans in voting against the resolution, while Kentucky Republican Rand Paul voted in favor. Van Hollen was able to force the vote under section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, a law that allows senators to require human rights reports on countries receiving U.S. military aid. The measure attracted 24 Democratic sponsors, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee. “While I was pleased that so many of my Democratic colleagues joined this effort, it is clear that the United States must do more,” Van Hollen said in a statement after the vote. “It is our responsibility to ensure that recipients of American taxpayer dollars act in accordance with our laws and our values; this resolution was an opportunity to shine a light on a reality that runs counter to that principle.” Nine Americans have been killed in the occupied West Bank since 2022, and senators say none of the cases have led to accountability. The most recent include Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old from Tampa, Florida, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July 2025 while visiting his family in the village of Sinjil. His family said settlers surrounded him for more than three hours and prevented an ambulance from reaching him as he tried to protect his land. Weeks later, Khamis Ayyad, a 40-year-old father of five from Cicero, Illinois, died of smoke inhalation after settlers set cars and homes on fire in the village of Silwad. Two other Americans, both 17 years old, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour, were shot to death in separate incidents in early 2024. Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old raised in Seattle, was shot in the head by Israeli troops, and Amer Rabee, a 14-year-old from New Jersey, was shot 11 times, according to Van Hollen. The list of victims also includes journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, murdered in 2022, and Omar Assad, an elderly man who died after being bound and gagged by Israeli soldiers. vote against. “If the murder of nine Americans doesn’t warrant a report from our own State Department, I would ask my colleagues: What would?” the Maryland Democrat said in a speech. “How many more Americans must be killed before the executive branch does its job? These families deserve answers.” In August, 45 Democratic senators signed a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to act to protect Americans in the West Bank. Human Rights Watch reported in August that settler attacks, along with rapid settlement expansion, had fully or partially displaced 107 Palestinian communities, about 5,900 people, since January 2023. The group cited U.N. figures showing that more Palestinians were displaced in the first four months of 2026 than in all of 2025. A March U.N. report covering the 12 months through October 2025 documented 1,732 settler attacks that caused injury or property. Many of the Democrats, who have historically been closely tied to Israel, have now changed in recent years. When Sanders first forced a Senate vote on blocking arms sales to Israel in November 2024, 18 senators backed him. Then, in April of this year, 40 of 47 Democrats voted to block a $295 million sale of excavators to Israel, which Sanders said would be used to demolish homes in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. Another 36 voted to block a sale of £1,000 bombs worth $152 million. The measures failed because all Republicans voted against them.
