Leaders of the US Democratic Party who are typically supportive of Israel condemned rampant West Bank settler violence against Palestinians this week, illustrating how the attacks are harming Israel’s standing in the US.
A monthslong wave of settler violence has escalated since the outbreak of the Iran war. A Thursday report by the human rights group Yesh Din documented 257 incidents of extremist settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in the war’s first 25 days — an average of more than 10 incidents per day.
The attacks included assault, damage to property, and land seizures against a total of 116 Palestinian communities. Arrests in such incidents are rare. Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter this week called the recent settler violence a “stain” and warned that the untreated problem was leading Israel to lose friends in the United States.
New York Representative Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s most staunch defenders in Congress, said, “The crisis of extremist settler violence in the West Bank must be confronted, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“There should be zero tolerance for violent extremism, no matter what form it takes and no matter what direction from which it comes,” Torres said in a statement.
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New York Representative Dan Goldman, who is Jewish, called the attacks “outrageous.”
“This violence is anti-democratic and unacceptable. The Israeli government must hold those responsible accountable, as the rule of law requires,” Goldman said.
Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada said the attacks “are unacceptable, and the perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted.”
“Violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank is a national security threat to Israel and must be treated as such,” said Rosen, who is also Jewish.
Representative Greg Stanton of Arizona said the attacks “deserve clear condemnation as acts of terrorism, and I strongly condemn them as such.”
“The Israeli government has a responsibility to stop these attacks and ensure they do not happen again,” he said.
Representative Shontel Brown of Ohio stated that the violence “has to stop.”
“Trump green-lighting settler violence was a major mistake, which is why we need to pass the West Bank Violence Prevention Act,” she said. “This worsening violence is only going to escalate tensions and make it harder to achieve real and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”
US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday decided to join over 130 other Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring legislation to codify sanctions on violent settlers that were first put in place by former president Joe Biden, but were reversed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office.
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