Top Democrats accuse Trump officials over Israeli settlers’ ‘unbridled violence’

Letter says lifting of sanctions sent ‘clear message’ settlers can use deadly force in West Bank without consequences

Senior Democrats have accused Donald Trump’s administration of giving a green light to violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, warning that its policies created “a climate of impunity and unbridled violence” that endangers both Palestinians and US citizens.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, a group of 19 Democratic senators and representatives call for the restoration of sanctions against extremist settlers and demand independent US investigations into the deaths of nine US citizens killed in the West Bank since 2022.

The letter, signed by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren among others, is addressed to Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary.

It argues that Trump’s promise last year that “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank” has been undermined by events on the ground. “In practice,” the Democrats write, “violent settlers and the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government have proceeded to rapidly extend Israeli control over civilian populations in the region.”

They urge the administration to use “all the diplomatic and economic tools at its disposal, including restoring sanctions, to end this violence and expansion of settlements”.

The Democrats argue that Trump’s decision on his first day back in office to rescind sanctions imposed on more than 30 settlers and organisations linked to violence has had profound consequences.

“Ending sanctions against those individuals and entities associated with West Bank extremism sent a clear message,” they write. “Settlers can use violent and deadly force with impunity against Palestinians and Americans while seizing land … and no one will face consequences.”

The letter cites UN figures showing 1,835 attacks on Palestinian communities and property during 2025, the highest number since records began, and says the UN has reported that the current pace of settler attacks this year is higher than in any year on record.

It highlights repeated attacks on Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian town where the majority of residents are US citizens, including the burning of a family home belonging to Americans from Massachusetts and Washington state.

The elected officials also focus on what they say has become an increasingly dangerous environment for Americans. Since Trump returned to office, they write, four US citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in the West Bank, bringing the total since 2022 to nine.

The victims include the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, 14-year-old Amer Mohammed Rabea, 17-year-olds Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Ahmed Mohammad Khdour and 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet, as well as Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American, and the Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

The letter says the justice department “has the authority to independently investigate the killing of Americans abroad” but “has reportedly not opened investigations into any of the killings since 2025. Israel has yet to indict a single person involved in these incidents.”

The Democrats also express concern over the detention of US citizens by the Israeli military including 20-year-old Sama Safi, whose access to vital medication was allegedly interrupted after her arrest, and Mohammed Ibrahim, who they say was detained for nine months while aged 15. They urge the administration to secure Safi’s immediate release and “push for the end of unjust and arbitrary detentions in the territory”.

The senators and representatives argue that the violence extends beyond Palestinian communities, pointing to repeated attacks on Taybeh, described in the letter as “the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank”.

Although the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, described an earlier attack there as “an act of terror” and pledged that those responsible would be prosecuted, the senators and representatives note that “no one has been arrested in connection with these crimes”. Huckabee is an evangelical Christian who has supported Jewish claims on the occupied land that settlers call Judea and Samaria.

The letter is signed by Warren, Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, Patty Murray, Jack Reed, Bernie Sanders, Brian Schatz, Adam Schiff, Chris Van Hollen, Peter Welch and Ron Wyden. The House of Representatives signatories are Katherine Clark, Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, Ayanna Pressley, Jake Auchincloss, Stephen Lynch and Lori Trahan.

It concludes that Israeli security forces and settlers have attacked and displaced Palestinians in the West Bank “at an unprecedented rate” since the Trump administration took office and argues that Washington’s “deference to the Netanyahu government has contributed to a climate of impunity and unbridled violence towards civilian populations and religious minorities”.

It demands answers by 17 August on investigations into attacks on Americans, the lifting of sanctions and the treatment of US citizens detained by the Israeli military.