Warren, Van Hollen, 25+ Colleagues Press Trump Administration for Accountability, Investigation into Deaths of American Citizens in West Bank

"It is unclear to us how many more Americans must die in the West Bank in order for this administration, and other administrations, to take serious, credible steps to secure accountability and ensure an end to the ongoing killings of Americans without consequence"

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and over 25 colleagues in pressing the Trump Administration for accountability and an investigation into the death of Nasrallah Abu Siyam, an American citizen who was shot and killed in the West Bank by violent Israeli settlers.

On February 18th, Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a 19-year-old American born in Philadelphia, was shot and killed in the West Bank village of Mukhmas, near Ramallah, by violent Israeli settlers during an attack on Palestinian farmers.

Nasrallah is the ninth American citizen who has been killed in the West Bank since January 2022 - to date, no one has been held responsible for the deaths of these Americans.

"This is yet another example of the impunity afforded to extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank under the protection of the Israel Defense Forces. The U.S. government must conduct a credible and independent investigation into Nasrallah's killing and hold all perpetrators accountable," wrote the senators.

This is the second letter the senators sent to the administration in the last seven months about the killing of an American citizen in the West Bank. In response to the letter, the State Department wrote, "The United States calls for accountability in all cases where U.S. citizens are harmed abroad to help prevent future tragedies." Despite the State Department's claims, it's unclear if true efforts were made, if any, to secure accountability.

"This has now become a consistent pattern in which Americans are being killed in the West Bank by settlers or the IDF without justice or accountability, despite promises from U.S. officials," the senators continue.

Including Saifullah Musallet and Khamis Ayyada, a forty-year-old American citizen and father of five who died of smoke inhalation in August after a fire was set by Israeli settlers in his West Bank village of Silwad, Nasrallah Abu Siyam is now the third American killed in the West Bank during the second Trump administration.

"It is unclear to us how many more Americans must die in the West Bank in order for this administration, and other administrations, to take serious, credible steps to secure accountability and ensure an end to the ongoing killings of Americans without consequence," wrote the senators.

By April 5, the senators demanded an independent investigation into the killing of Nasrallah Abu Siyam and an update on the status of investigations into the killings of all the other Americans killed in the West Bank since January 2022.

The letter was also signed by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).

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