Senate Democrats Demand Investigation Into US Citizen's Killing in West Bank
The U.S. government's refusal to demand accountability from Israel, they said, has led to an "unacceptable culture of impunity when it comes to incidents where civilians have been killed in the West Bank, including Americans."
While the two Republican senators from Florida who represented U.S. citizen and Tampa resident Sayfollah Musallet have yet to speak out publicly about his killing in the West Bank earlier this month, 29 of their Democratic colleagues on Thursday demanded the Trump administration open an investigation into what Palestinian authorities say was deadly Israeli settler violence that killed the 20-year-old.
Led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the Democratic senators noted that the U.S. government has refused to "secure accountability" for the killings of six other U.S. citizens who have been killed in the West Bank since January 2022, including Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi.
Since President Donald Trump took office and revoked sanctions against Israeli settlers there, they wrote, settler attacks have surged—with Musallet, a Palestinian-American who was born in Florida, one of the latest victims.
"We urge you to immediately launch an independent investigation into the brutal killing of Saifullah Kamel Musallet," said more than half of the Senate Democratic Caucus members, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).
Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Musallet's family have reported that Israeli settlers surrounded the young man after brutally beating him on July 11, when he was visiting relatives for the summer. The settlers reportedly prevented ambulances and paramedics from reaching Musallet, and he died before his brother was finally able to retrieve him and take him to a hospital.
The Trump administration said after Musallet's killing was reported that the U.S. State Department "has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," but said nothing about how it would proceed. Following outcry, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to "aggressively investigate" Musallet's death and called his killing a "criminal and terrorist act."
"The killings of these Americans in the West Bank have been met by a lack of accountability from the Netanyahu government and an inability to secure justice by the U.S. government."
The U.S. has generally accepted the results of Israel's investigations into the killings of U.S. citizens in the West Bank. A Department of Justice probe into the killing of Abu Akleh was opened in 2022, but the DOJ has yet to release its findings. No one has faced criminal charges for killing a U.S. citizen in the illegally occupied territory.
"The killings of these Americans in the West Bank have been met by a lack of accountability from the Netanyahu government and an inability to secure justice by the U.S. government," the Democrats wrote. "These failures have contributed to an unacceptable culture of impunity when it comes to incidents where civilians have been killed in the West Bank, including Americans."
Along with Florida's Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.)—who represented Musallet in the House—and Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, have remained silent about their constituent's killing.
"When American citizens like Saif are killed overseas, especially by Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli government, looking the other way sends a dangerous message: that some American lives simply don't matter," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said days after Musallet's killing. "We demand better."
The Democratic senators called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch an independent investigation into the fatal beating of Musallet as well as "the circumstances that blocked ambulances from reaching him."
"We also ask that you provide us with an update on the status of any investigations into the killings of the six other Americans who have been killed since January 2022," they wrote, "and provide us with a briefing on actions you are taking to ensure accountability for their deaths and to prevent future killings of Americans in the West Bank."
