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sayfollah musallet
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."
Jul 24, 2025
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."
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Family Demands US Probe Into Israeli Settlers' 'Lynching' of American Citizen
The family of Sayfollah Musallet called his killing by Israeli settlers "an unimaginable nightmare and an injustice that no family should ever have to face."
Jul 14, 2025
The family of 20-year-old U.S. citizen Sayfollah Musallet is being joined by a number of advocacy groups in demanding a full U.S.-led investigation into the young man's fatal beating by Israeli settlers in the West Bank last week—and pushing back against the corporate media's characterization of the brutal attack.
"We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes," said the family in a statement, referring to Musallet by his nickname.
The family described how Israeli settlers "surrounded Saif for over three hours as paramedics attempted to reach him, but the mob of settlers blocked the ambulance and paramedics from providing life-saving aid."
Musallet's brother finally was able to retrieve him and bring him to a nearby hospital, but he died from his injuries before arriving there.
The State Department has said little about the killing of Musallet, who was a 20-year-old Palestinian-American with dual citizenship who was born in Florida, where he was still living when he traveled to the West Bank to visit family for the summer.
The Trump administration told Al Jazeera late Friday that the department "has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," and said it was "aware of reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank," but did not provide further details about how it was proceeding following Musallet's killing.
Meanwhile, rights advocates condemned The New York Times' reporting on the attack, which it called "a clash." It cited the Israeli government's claim that "the violence began when Palestinians threw stones at Israeli civilians."
"This was a lynching, not a 'clash,'" said Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington State office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Musallet is at least the ninth U.S. citizen to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers since 2022. The U.S. government has historically accepted the results of Israel's investigations into killings like those of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
Under pressure, the Department of Justice finally opened a probe into the 2022 fatal shooting of Abu Akleh, but more than three years after her killing it has not released its findings.
None of the Israeli killings of U.S. citizens have resulted in criminal charges.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told Al Jazeera Saturday that the U.S. "must stop treating Palestinian American lives as expendable."
"Israeli settlers lynched 20-year-old Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet, while U.S. officials stayed silent," the group said. "Sayfollah was born and raised in Florida. He was visiting family for the summer in the West Bank when settlers beat him to death while he protested illegal land seizures."
Musallet's family said his killing is "an unimaginable nightmare and an injustice that no family should ever have to face."
"We demand justice," they said.
Zeteo journalist Mehdi Hasan noted that along with the Trump administration near-silence, Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has so far said nothing publicly about the killing of the Tampa resident.
"Why do Israelis keep murdering Americans?" said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. "Perhaps it's because they know our government will never do a damn thing about it?"
"Not even a word of condolence offered to his family, not from 'America First' President Trump, not from the Florida governor, not from the State Department," she said. "Seems it's always just really Israel First for these folks."
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Israeli Settlers Beat American to Death in Illegally Occupied West Bank: Family, Health Ministry
"If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration," said one U.S. group.
Jul 11, 2025
The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health and cousins of Sayfollah Musallet—also known as Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat—said Friday that Israeli settlers beat the dual U.S.-Palestinian citizen to death while he was visiting family in the illegally occupied West Bank.
A spokesperson for the ministry, Annas Abu El Ezz, told Agence France-Press that 23-year-old Musallet "died after being severely beaten all over his body by settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, this afternoon."
Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, from the nearby village of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya, said that "the young man was injured and remained so for four hours. The [Israeli] army prevented us from reaching him and did not allow us to take him away."
"When we finally managed to reach him, he was taking his last breath," he added.
The Times of Israel reported that the "ministry later said a second man, 23-year-old Mohammad Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers," and "there have been no arrests yet."
According to the Tel Aviv-based newspaper Haaretz, "The Israeli army said it was 'aware of reports' of the incident and that it was 'being looked into by the Shin Bet security service and Israel Police.'"
Zeteo's Prem Thakker spoke with two of Musallet's cousins, Fatmah Muhammad and another granted anonymity due to safety concerns. They said that he grew up in Port Charlotte, Florida, and arrived in June to visit family in the Palestinian town of al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya.
As Thakker detailed:
Muhammad described Musallet as "one of those kids that everyone loves" with a "beautiful heart," a "sweet, gentle kid, very genuine," everyone attests as funny and bright.
In Florida, he helped run a family ice cream shop, a place where his personality shone through, his family members said.
Muhammad and the other family source said that the entire Palestinian town where the family is from is devastated.
"There's no justice there. You can't call the police. You can't call the Israeli government. The murderers just get to walk away," Muhammad said.
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the Israel Defense Forces have killed over 57,800 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—which has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). During that time, IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers' sometimes deadly violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has also surged.
Additionally, despite the ICJ's July 2024 finding that Israel's occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible, and Israeli settler colonization of the West Bank amounts to unlawful annexation, there are growing calls in Israel's government to formally annex the West Bank.
Musallet's death came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a fugitive from the International Criminal Court accused of continuing the mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza to stay in power—returned to Israel after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. this week.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States, said in a Friday statement that "we strongly condemn these racist Israeli settlers, backed and enabled by the Netanyahu government, for beating an American citizen to death in the occupied West Bank."
"This murder is only the latest killing of an American citizen by illegal Israeli settlers or soldiers," he noted. "Every other murder of an American citizen has gone unpunished by the American government, which is why the Israeli government keeps wantonly killing American Palestinians and, of course, other Palestinians. If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration."
According to Thakker: "Musallet is at least the seventh American killed in the West Bank, Gaza, or Lebanon since October 7, 2023, including six killed by Israeli forces. Earlier this week, Zeteo asked several Republican senators if they knew how many Americans had been killed by Israel in the last 21 months. None of them could answer."
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