Senate Rejects West Bank Human Rights Report in 51–47 Vote
UNITED STATES October 1, 2026—Since 2022, nine Americans have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces. The fallen include three teenagers, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Ahmad al-Khdour, Amer Rabee, and six adults, Omar Assad, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, Sayfollah Kamel Musallet, Khamis Ayyad, and Nasrallah Abu Siyam.
To date, none of the deaths has resulted in a publicly documented criminal conviction. While Israeli authorities have examined some of the cases and the FBI reportedly started an investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the families have received no criminal accountability, according to the senators sponsoring the resolution.
Senate Vote 47-51
This week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, tried to bring accountability. He sponsored a resolution that would have compelled the State Department to report to Congress on Israel’s human rights practices. Specifically, S.Res. 852, called for invoking Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act.
The Senate voted against the motion to discharge the resolution from committee on a mostly party-line vote, with all Democrats except for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., supporting it and 50 Republicans opposing it. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy, La., and Dan Sullivan, Alaska, did not vote.
Van Hollen said the families of the victims have “no justice and no accountability.”
“Today, Republicans denied them that,” Van Hollen said on Tuesday. “Meanwhile, the Palestinian people have also borne the toll of this violence day in and day out. They too deserve justice and accountability. But again, Republicans blocked that today. While I was pleased that so many of my Democratic colleagues joined this effort, it’s clear the United States must do more. It is our responsibility to ensure recipients of U.S. taxpayer dollars act in line with our laws and our values – this resolution was an opportunity to shed light on a reality that flies in the face of that principle.”
Republican Responses
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted “yea” with Democrats, saying U.S. taxpayers deserve transparency on human rights in foreign aid. Paul also opened up a debate about the Palestinian Authority. Paul introduced legislation, S. 5589, to condition U.S. funding for the PA in the West Bank and Palestinians in Gaza on specific orders, such as recognition of the state of Israel.
Reading from prepared remarks, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said the United States needs to “stand with its ally Israel.” In an apparent reference to the Leahy Laws, which prevent the U.S. government from assisting a foreign military committing human rights violations, Daines said the resolution was an attempt to deny Israel weapons in its “righteous war.”
The debate on the motion comes as the Trump Administration is preparing to ship a massive quantity of bunker-busting bombs to Israel—a move that would be in contradiction to public sentiment.
Politics Shifting
Though the Van Hollen resolution ultimately failed, it represents a significant shift in U.S. politics. Looking back to January 2024 when former President Biden prepared a package of $10 billion in military assistance to Israel and shipped weapons to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without congressional review, only 12 Senate Democrats pushed back. Today, a majority of Democrats and one Republican voted for a review.
Josh Paul, a former State Department official and current cofounder of the nonprofit lobbying group New Policy Center, suggested the vote represented a meaningful shift in the Democratic Party’s political consensus, bringing it more in line with U.S. public opinion.
“For years the Biden Administration refused to pursue any sort of accountability for Israel, and refused, even, to ask tough questions of the Netanyahu government as it turned Gaza into rubble, and international law into ruin. So, it is significant that virtually every Democratic Senator has now voted to demand answers and to do so essentially on pain of a full cutoff of security assistance.”
Paul said the vote does not change the norm of the State Department placing a higher value on the U.S.-Israel relationship than on Americans, including Palestinian Americans. However, it sends a strong signal to the diplomatic world.
“This vote will not change that calculus. But it does put America’s diplomats on notice that the time will come when they will be asked, ‘What did you do when an American was killed on your watch?’”
Justice For Some
The Senate agreed by unanimous consent to a resolution, S. Res. 938, sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to honor Americans killed in Israel on October 7, 2023 and to “reaffirm the commitment of the United States to seek legal justice on behalf of their families.” In March 2025, the U.S. Justice Department launched a multiagency joint task force under the supervision of the Deputy Attorney General to investigate the deaths of the 49 U.S. citizens killed on October 7, 2023. As of March 2026, the task force had not released its findings and many of its members had either been fired or reassigned, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry released its findings about events from October 7, 2023, to the end of that year, despite facing challenges investigating Gaza.
US-Israel Friendship Tested Over Lack of Candor
Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he and his colleagues have repeatedly raised the issue of Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank to no avail.
“Let’s be clear: Israel is a friend. Israel is an ally,” Kaine said, regardless of which leaders are in place. “However, friendship and partnership is not the same as complete agreement. In fact, if you are not candid with your friends, and if you cannot have a friendship that can survive being candid with one another, it’s not really a friendship.”
