US Senator Demands Accountability for Deaths of Nine Americans in West Bank
“I want to take a few minutes to tell my colleagues about these nine American citizens who’ve been killed by Israeli settlers or Israeli security forces in just over the last four years,” Van Hollen said during a speech on the Senate floor, shared in a video on his X account.
He identified the victims as Omar Assad, 78; Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, 51; Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17; Mohammad Khdour, 17; Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26; Amer Rabee, 14; Saif Musallet, 20; Khamis Ayyad, 40; and Nasrallah Abu Siyam, 19.
Van Hollen recounted Assad’s death in January 2022, saying Israeli soldiers stopped him at a checkpoint and “dragged him from his car. They bound his hands behind his back. They gagged him. They blindfolded him, and they left him lying on the ground outside.” Assad “died of a stress-induced heart attack,” the senator said.
Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head by Israeli security forces near the Jenin refugee camp in May 2022. “When she was killed, she was wearing a bright blue vest, clearly identifying her as a journalist,” Van Hollen said.
He also described the death of Eygi, who grew up in Seattle and was “shot in the head by an Israeli soldier from approximately 200 meters” in September 2024. Van Hollen added that Rabee was “shot 11 times by two different weapons.”
The senator referred to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s description of Musallet’s killing as “a criminal and terrorist act.”
“He even said there must be accountability. So why has there been no accountability?” Van Hollen asked.
Following each case, the senator repeated: “No one has been held accountable.”
“Nine American citizens dead. No accountability,” he said.
Last month, the Senate rejected a resolution introduced by Van Hollen by a vote of 47-51. The proposal would have required the secretary of state to provide a report within 30 days on Israel’s human rights practices, including the deaths of US citizens at the hands of Israeli forces or settlers since January 2022 and the progress of related investigations.
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