The U.S. Senate voted 47–51 on Tuesday to block a resolution that would have required the Trump administration to report to Congress on Israel’s human rights practices and the deaths of American citizens in Judea and Samaria.
Every Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted to advance the measure in the latest sign of Israel’s declining favor among Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the lone Republican to join with the 46 Democrats who backed the proposal.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who introduced the resolution, accused the Israeli government of “complicity” in the deaths of American citizens “killed on the West Bank by violent Israeli settlers or members of the Israeli security forces.”
“There has been zero accountability, no justice for their families, no one held accountable,” Van Hollen said. “If American citizens can be killed, harmed or locked up with impunity, imagine what the conditions are for Palestinians in the West Bank who don’t hold an American passport.”
He argued that Congress must ensure that recipients of U.S. foreign aid, including Israel, act in accordance with American law and values.
The resolution would require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on the deaths of nine U.S. citizens who have been killed in Judea and Samaria since 2022 and provide a human rights assessment of “Palestinian children in Israeli military detention in the West Bank.”
U.S. security assistance to Israel would be cut off should the administration fail to provide the report.
Opponents of the resolution accused its backers of politicizing the U.S.-Israel alliance amid the ongoing threat from Iran.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) urged lawmakers to defeat the initiative and stand with an ally countering Iranian-backed terrorism, rather than applying punitive diplomatic pressure.
