Democrats to Force Senate Vote on Israel’s Human Rights Practices

Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, on Thursday plans to introduce a resolution that would order the Trump administration to provide Congress with a detailed accounting of Israel’s human rights practices in the West Bank, laying the groundwork to force a vote on the matter in coming weeks. The measure, the latest bid by Democrats in Congress to challenge the policies and actions of Israel’s government, invokes a provision of the Foreign Assistance Act that allows lawmakers to request information from the State Department about the human rights record of any country receiving U.S. security assistance. Co-signed by 10 Senate Democrats, the resolution is privileged, meaning that Mr. Van Hollen could force a vote on it even if Republican leaders refuse, as expected, to bring it to the floor. That could lead to yet another vote in Congress showcasing Democrats’ divide over Israel as a growing contingent in the party turns against the Jewish state . “We’ve seen ongoing human rights violations on the West Bank, but we’re going from bad to abysmal,” Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview. The resolution focuses on at least nine U.S. citizens who have been killed in the West Bank since January 2022, including Shireen Abu Akleh , a Palestinian American journalist killed in 2022, and Aysenur Ezgi Eygi , who was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier in 2024. It argues that Israeli authorities have failed to punish those responsible and that American agencies have failed to conduct their own independent investigations or provide substantive information about existing ones. “If the United States Senate shines a spotlight on this, we will save lives,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “We will save the lives of American citizens. We will also save the lives of Palestinian civilians.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .