The U.S. Senate rejected a resolution that would have required the State Department to report on violence against American citizens and other Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank. The measure failed 47-51 on Tuesday, despite support from every Senate Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and from Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the only Republican to vote in favour.

Fetterman has repeatedly been the lone Democrat to break with his party on a series of Iran war powers votes. The failed resolution would not itself have changed U.S. policy toward Israel. It would have required the State Department to prepare a report intended to document human rights abuses.

The vote marks a significant shift from an earlier Senate vote on similar legislation. In January 2024, a measure introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who co-sponsored the resolution considered Tuesday, failed 72-11. John Ramming Chappell, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, described the change as “remarkable that nearly every Democratic senator voted to scrutinize Israel’s human rights record.”

The proposal was partly prompted by the deaths of nine American citizens in the West Bank since the beginning of 2022. Jewish settlers or Israeli security forces killed them, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said there had been “no accountability” and “no justice” for the victims.

The Trump administration has sometimes spoken against the violence, including through its ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, but has made no policy changes to address it. Sanders told the Senate on Tuesday: “While the world’s attention has been on Gaza, this same government has been carrying out a slower, but no less brutal campaign in the West Bank. As of last month, the United Nations has documented more than 1400 incidents of settler violence this year alone.”

He continued: “The Trump administration, rather than confronting this violence, has lifted sanctions on violent settlers. This violence does not even spare American citizens (...) Enough is enough. The United States cannot continue to bankroll this violence and look the other way,” Sanders said.

The vote was considered relatively easy for Democrats to support compared with other measures critical of Israel. Democrats who support Israel have generally been more willing to vote against Israeli policies when the issue concerns the West Bank rather than Gaza.

Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned over the Biden administration’s Gaza policy, called rebukes of violent settlers in the West Bank “low-hanging fruit” in remarks to Responsible Statecraft shortly after the resolution was introduced in late August. Before Tuesday’s vote, Cavan Kharrazian, senior policy advisor at Demand Progress, called the resolution “a long-overdue first step” that “should be the bare minimum for any senator.”

As the party heads into election seasons in which the U.S. relationship with Israel is expected to play a central role, Chappell said votes like Tuesday’s should send a signal. “This vote is a clear indication for Democratic presidential hopefuls that they will be expected to reevaluate the relationship with an emphasis on accountability and international law,” he said.

Based on reporting by Responsible Statecraft.