Welch: “The real question here is not what Israel is doing but what the United States government is not doing on behalf of its own citizens.”
Welch joins nearly all Democratic Senators in bipartisan rebuke of Netanyahu government’s failure to hold Israeli officers responsible for unjustified killings of American citizens
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week joined U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in urging Senate passage of their resolution requiring a Department of State report to Congress on increasing violence in the West Bank, including the killings of Americans. Nine Americans have been killed in the West Bank in recent years, and many more have been detained without charge or trial. None of their cases have been credibly investigated or resulted in punishment of the perpetrators.
The Senators’ resolution would require the State Department to provide information regarding investigations of the killing of United States citizens by violent Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces in the West Bank, as well as an assessment of the human rights situation in the West Bank, specifically related to the detention of Palestinian children.
“The real question here is not what Israel is doing, but what the United States government is not doing on behalf of its own citizens. Some of whom have been killed, others of whom have been detained. So, this resolution is asserting the will of Congress that our government do its job to protect American citizens when they’ve been injured or they’ve been killed; to demand accountability and an investigation. It’s certainly within the power of this government to use its influence so that Israel does comply with our laws,” said Senator Welch ahead of the vote. “I urge all of our colleagues to stand up for the right of all of our citizens to have the full protection of the United States government.”
In his remarks before the vote, Senator Welch highlighted the story of Dylan Collins, a Vermonter and AFP video journalist who was wounded during a deadly October 13, 2023 , targeted strike by the Israeli military on a clearly marked group of journalists on the Israel-Lebanon border.
“Another reporter, Dylan Collins, a constituent from Vermont, a very accomplished photojournalist. He was not in the West Bank, but he was reporting from the Israeli-Lebanese border. He was also in a group of journalists prominently stationed on an open hillside. They had the usual identification of a press vest, blue helmets, and a vehicle clearly marked ‘press’ where they were clearly visible. They were fired on by an Israeli tank and heavy machine gun fire. There has been no significant investigation on the part of the Israeli government to get to the bottom of how that happened,” said Senator Welch.
While hospitalized from injuries sustained in the strike, Collins reported the targeted attack to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and later presented video evidence of the strike to FBI and DHS investigators and the State Department in May 2024. Senator Welch has led and joined eight letters to the U.S. government requesting answers about the attack and demanding accountability. To date, the U.S. has failed to undertake an independent and transparent investigation resulting in accountability for this deadly attack. Senator Welch welcomed Collins to Capitol Hill last year to demand justice for journalists killed and injured in the Middle East.
Watch the Senator’s full remarks below:
Read a key excerpt from the Senator’s remarks on the Senate Floor:
“Today we’re here on this resolution that is about protecting Americans: 17 Americans who’ve been the victim of violence in the West Bank. Today, this resolution is about the obligation that our State Department has, our government has, to protect American citizens abroad by demanding a report, by getting information, and by insisting on accountability. So, whatever one’s position may be with respect to the hostilities in the Middle East, what this resolution is requiring is that the State Department do the job with respect to American deaths in the West Bank; the same request that we would make if this were another government, not Israel, and American citizens were the victims of violence in other countries.
“It’s the basic responsibility of this United States government to protect U.S. Citizens. That’s what this is profoundly about. The failure for the State Department and our government to do the basic responsibility of citizen protection and accountability has to be wired up into the policy of this administration to look the other way when these things are happening.
“It has been the policy of the United States to support a two-state solution. It is the policy of the Netanyahu government to occupy and ultimately annex the West Bank. And the result of that, there is in many cases settler violence toward citizens of the West Bank, in some cases Americans who are there. It also is the reason why in many cases where this violence is occurring, very much in front of the eyes of the American military, they’re looking the other way and doing nothing to protect the victims.”
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The resolution draws upon Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act, which allows Congress to file a privileged resolution that would require the State Department to provide information on any country receiving U.S. security assistance and that country’s observance of internationally-recognized human rights. The resolution would also require the Trump Administration to submit the report within 30 days, or the majority of security assistance of Israel would be prohibited. Following the receipt of a State Department report, Congress may consider any necessary changes to U.S. security assistance to that country in light of the information received. If the administration declines or fails to submit the required report, the administration’s decision would prompt the termination of certain covered security assistance programs for Israel.
Senators Welch, Van Hollen, Kaine, and Sanders were joined in introducing the resolution by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass), Tina Smith (D-Minn.),Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Read and download the full text of the resolution.
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