US Senate blocks call for report on West Bank abuses

The US Senate has blocked a measure that would have required the State Department to report on killings of American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces in the occupied West Bank, and on the wider human rights situation there.

Senators voted 47-51 against the resolution, introduced by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, The Express Tribune reported.

What the measure would have done

The resolution asked the State Department to report to Congress on:

• the killings of US citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces in the West Bank
• the state of human rights in the occupied territory

It focused on the nine Americans killed in the West Bank since 2022. It would not have cut aid to Israel, but it could have triggered restrictions on aid if the administration failed to deliver the report.

“Our laws and our values”

“It is our responsibility to ensure recipients of US taxpayer dollars act in line with our laws and our values,” Van Hollen said.

Republican Senator Steve Daines urged colleagues to reject it. “I urge my colleagues to vote no on this resolution so we can stand with our ally Israel as they beat back the scourge of Iranian-backed terrorism,” he said.

An almost party-line vote

The vote split almost entirely along party lines. All Republicans voted against it except Rand Paul of Kentucky, and all Democrats voted for it except John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

Violence the report would have examined

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has risen sharply this year. A letter from dozens of House Democrats to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month set out the scale:

• 1,122 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7, 2023 and July 24, 2026
• About 6,000 Palestinians displaced from 107 communities since January 2023
• More than 1,380 settler-related incidents in over 250 communities since January 2026
• A 63 percent rise in serious incidents in the first half of 2026

“Israeli settler attacks have made daily life unsafe for Palestinians across large parts of the West Bank,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, dated September 24.

Palestinian figures cited by Anadolu Agency put the toll since October 2023 even higher, at 1,206 killed in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

This week alone, settlers burned homes and cars in the villages of Jalud, Qaryut and Al-Mughayyir, and Israel moved to reopen a settler-only road that a Palestinian commission says would cut Ramallah and Al-Bireh in two.

Why it matters

The vote shows how hard it remains to hold Israel to account in Washington, even on a measure that only asked for a report and concerned the deaths of American citizens. But the narrow margin, and a growing number of Democrats speaking out about settler violence, show that the debate in the United States is shifting. For Palestinians in the West Bank, the violence the report would have examined continues. Read our reports on the Qatari prime minister’s remarks on Netanyahu and on the settler attacks on three villages.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune and Anadolu Agency.