House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has signaled that Democrats are ready to take direct aim at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Jeffries, who is positioned to become Speaker if Democrats retake the House majority, told reporters at the Capitol that rising settler violence in the West Bank “cannot continue.”
The remarks reflect a significant shift in the politics of Capitol Hill, where unwavering support for Israel was once considered a near-universal position across both major parties.
That consensus has eroded sharply under Netanyahu, who has assembled what critics describe as the most right-wing governing coalition in Israel’s history, one that opposes Palestinian statehood and promotes settlement expansion.
Jeffries and his top deputies, Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.), have all endorsed legislation that would impose economic sanctions on individuals who engage in violence in the West Bank while barring them from entering the United States.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a prominent Jewish lawmaker, has now been formally endorsed by 174 House Democrats, and Jeffries described it as a legislative priority should the party regain its majority.
The push for sanctions comes amid an acceleration of West Bank settlement construction following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel in October 2023, when the group killed roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more.
Democrats have broadly supported Israel’s right to self-defense, but many have sharply condemned Netanyahu’s military response in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 people according to figures cited in reporting on the conflict.
Even some of Israel’s most vocal Democratic supporters have now signed onto the Nadler sanctions bill, including Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), described as two of the most recent additions to the bill’s list of endorsers.
Hannah Morris, vice president of government affairs at J Street, a pro-Israel group that opposes the settlements, noted the significance of the latest endorsements, saying, “It certainly just tells you where the winds are blowing.”
Morris added, “We have seen such a rapid growth in outposts during the period of this far-right Netanyahu government,” pointing to the scale of settlement expansion under the current Israeli administration.
Jeffries framed his position in terms of a dual commitment, stating, “I support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state,” while also arguing that Palestinian statehood “needs to be a twin priority.”
Netanyahu has pushed back forcefully against international criticism, using an appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to lash out at those questioning his handling of Gaza and the West Bank, saying, “They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism.”
Senate Democrats have also entered the fight, with Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) introducing legislation to sanction any company involved in development of the E-1 project in the West Bank.
Coons said in a statement that “the United States must send a strong message that this behavior is unacceptable,” calling for a commitment to “freedom, security, prosperity and self-determination for all Israelis and Palestinians.”
