This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.

Since 2022, nine Americans have been killed in the West Bank by violent Israeli settlers or Israeli security forces. They include journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Omar Assad, and Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. Not one of these killings has resulted in meaningful accountability or justice from either the Israeli or U.S. governments. Their families have waited years for answers that have never come.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD) and his colleagues have introduced a privileged resolution under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act that would require the State Department to report to Congress on the killings of Americans and the broader human rights situation in the West Bank.

If passed by a simple majority, the resolution would require the State Department, within 30 days, to report on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of each American citizen, the Israeli security forces or settlers implicated, any use of U.S. assistance in connection with these killings, and the status of Israeli and U.S. investigations. It would also require a broader assessment of human rights conditions in the West Bank, including the detention of Palestinian children.

Accountability for the Killing of Americans in the West Bank.

Senators should cosponsor the Section 502B(c) resolution and vote yes when it reaches the floor. The families of the Americans killed in the West Bank have waited long enough. The U.S. government should not look away when its own citizens are killed, and no recipient of U.S. security assistance is exempt from human rights standards required by U.S. law.

Why Congress Must Support the West Bank 502B(c) Resolution  

  • Escalating violence: The UN has documented more than 1,400 settler attacks in the West Bank in 2026, already surpassing the previous annual record. The escalating violence is occurring alongside a pattern of impunity that has endangered both Palestinians and American citizens.
  • U.S. law demands accountability: Section 502B(c) gives Congress a clear mechanism to demand information about human rights conditions in countries receiving U.S. security assistance. When American citizens are killed by military forces or other actors receiving U.S. support and meaningful investigations do not follow, Congress has a responsibility to demand answers and exercise its oversight authority.
  • A privileged congressional tool: This is not symbolic. After the required period before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, if the committee has not acted, the resolution can be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
  • The Administration has failed to act: Congress must use its authority to demand answers when the executive branch has failed to provide them. Doing so can help protect U.S. and Palestinian civilians alike. 

Contact: Hassan El-Tayyab, Legislative Director for Middle East Policy, hassan@fcnl.org