US Refuses to Hold Israel Accountable for Killing US Citizen Sayfollah Musallet | Palestine Policy Roundup 7.15.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 1,123 killed since the beginning of Trump's Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); at least 3,689 Israeli violations of Trump's Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 73,246 killed during Israel's genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 3,468 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)
🇱🇧 LEBANON: 4,324 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 13 servicemembers killed (US Military)
🏛️ LEG UPDATES
This week, three new House Members cosponsored the Block the Bombs Act. Thank you to Reps. Bill Foster, Linda Sanchez, and Sam Liccardo.
🕯️ ONE YEAR SINCE ISRAELI SETTLERS KILLED PALESTINIAN AMERICAN
Last Saturday marked the first anniversary of the killing of Sayfollah Musallet, a Palestinian American US citizen who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on his family's farmland in the West Bank. To this day, Israel has refused to hold Sayfollah's killers accountable, and the Trump administration has refused to open an independent investigation into this killing.
WHO WAS SAYFOLLAH? Sayfollah, who also went by Sayf, was 20 years old when he was killed by Israeli settlers. He was born in Florida and raised in Palestine, and he returned to Florida following high school to live and work. Sayf was a brother, uncle, and a businessman—he opened and owned his own ice cream shop in Tampa Bay.
BEATEN TO DEATH: Sayf had travelled to visit his family in the West Bank last summer when a mob of violent settlers attacked him and other Palestinians as they were defending their farmland.
Instead of stopping the attack, the Israeli military reportedly fired tear gas at the Palestinians who were defending their land. Both the settlers and the military prevented paramedics and an ambulance from reaching Sayfollah for more than two hours.
This attack came amid a spate of settler attacks against Palestinians who were attempting to access their land in Sinjil. The Israeli military had also erected a 16-foot-high fence around Sinjil, which cut off Palestinians from their lands, just a few months before Sayf was killed.
NO ACCOUNTABILITY: Despite US Ambassador Mike Huckabee calling for an Israeli investigation, the Israeli government has refused to make any effort to hold Sayf's killers accountable. The Trump administration has also refused to independently investigate the killing or take any meaningful action for justice.
Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinians who attempt to reach their land in Sinjil, and they blocked Sayf's father Kamel Musallet from the land where his son was killed. Kamel was finally able to visit the land last weekend; he, a CNN team, and other journalists were then attacked by Israeli settlers.
MORE AMERICANS KILLED: Since Sayf was killed, Israeli settlers have killed two more US citizens during attacks on Palestinian towns in the West Bank:
Just weeks after Sayf was killed, Israeli settlers launched an arson attack on Silwad. Khamis Ayyad, who was a Palestinian American from Cicero, Illinois, died from smoke inhalation as he tried to put out the fires. Instead of stopping the attack, the Israeli military fired tear gas and live rounds at Palestinians who were attempting to defend themselves.
Just a few months ago, Israeli settlers attempted to steal livestock from Mukhmas and killed Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a Palestinian American who was born in Philadelphia, as he tried to save another Palestinian who was being beaten by the settlers. The Israeli military prevented the ambulance carrying Nasrallah from reaching a hospital for hours.
🚨 REP. RO KHANNA DETAINED BY ISRAELI SETTLERS, MILITARY
Last Saturday, Rep. Ro Khanna was detained by Israeli settlers who brandished M4 rifles, which were likely provided by the US, following a visit to the Palestinian town of Zanuta in the West Bank. The settlers, joined later by Israeli soldiers, stopped the vehicle in which Rep. Khanna and his group were traveling for 90 minutes.
A CULTURE OF IMPUNITY: Following the attack, Rep. Khanna blamed a culture of impunity regarding Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank for contributing to his detention and widespread attacks against Palestinians there.
This culture of impunity is cultivated by explicit Israeli government policy and military support, and it results in Palestinians being routinely attacked, injured, and killed by Israeli settlers. The culture of impunity is further perpetuated when settlers face no accountability for their actions.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been nearly 1,000 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that have resulted in property damage, injury, or death as of May 2026. These attacks are on pace to break the record-setting number of attacks recorded in 2025.
STATE POLICY: As Amnesty International found, Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank are "an integral part of an organized state policy" of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and land.
In the latest example of state support for these attacks, Israel announced last weekend that it is providing $1.3 million to an Israeli settler NGO that has been sanctioned by six countries over its involvement in Israeli settler attacks.
US-provided M4 rifles were used in the attack on Rep. Khanna's group, and settlers likely received those rifles from the Israeli military–which directly arms several settler militias. Additionally, last April, President Trump sent more than 20,000 rifles to Israel, which were likely paid for by US taxpayers.
📖 LEARN MORE about how the Israeli military and state provide support for settlers who carry out violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in our policy memo.
🗳️ SENATORS CALL FOR VOTES ON ISRAEL PROVISIONS IN NDAA
Yesterday, Senate Democrats successfully defeated the cloture motion on the Motion to Proceed to the NDAA. Last Thursday, Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Bernie Sanders led a letter calling on Senators to vote no NDAA without amendment votes on two provisions that embed Israel into US military and intelligence.
SENATORS SPEAK OUT: The Senators write in the letter that Israel has repeatedly undermined peace efforts in Iran and Lebanon as it also continues to attack and kill Palestinians in Gaza in violation of the October 2025 Gaza plan.
The letter also notes growing opposition to deepening US complicity in Israel's atrocities by sending more weapons there, and it cites the April vote by 40 Senate Democrats in support of blocking weapons to Israel.
WHAT'S IN THE NDAA? The FY2027 NDAA contains a provision that would systematically embed Israeli weapons makers into the US military procurement process. Another provision currently in the FY20727 Intelligence Authorization Act would also mandate US-Israeli intelligence sharing.
Section 1217 of the NDAA would mandate the creation of a United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, which would systematically embed Israeli weapons manufacturers into the US military procurement process. It would mandate an expansion of the co-development and co-production model from missile defense to AI and other fields. Israeli weapons makers could capture potentially limitless profits from taxpayer-funded DoD procurement of these weapons.
Section 622 of the FY27 Intelligence Authorization Act mandates the US to expand intelligence sharing with Israel, and it would constrain the President's ability to restrict this intelligence sharing in the future. This despite the fact that the Trump administration recently raised the counter-intelligence threat from Israel to its highest possible level. Although not currently in the base text of the NDAA, this bill is typically added to the NDAA as a floor amendment.
⚽ ISRAEL KILLS WORLD CUP SCREENING ORGANIZER IN GAZA
Israel killed a Palestinian aid worker who organized World Cup screenings in Gaza just before the match between Argentina and Egypt last Tuesday. Mohamed al-Wahidi was the director of the Egyptian Committee in Gaza, and he was an experienced aid worker in Gaza. Two boys, aged eight and ten, were also killed in the attack that killed al-Wahidi, as Israel continues its attacks in Gaza in violation of the Trump plan for the area.
A WELCOME DIVERSION: As Israel's obstruction of humanitarian aid continues to deprive Palestinians of adequate shelter and electricity, World Cup screenings organized by al-Wahidi were a welcome diversion. Even following al-Wahidi's death, hundreds of Palestinians turned out to watch the match between Egypt and Argentina last week. Palestinians are forced to watch the matches amid the rubble caused by Israel's flattening of Gaza.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, speaking about the NDAA: "It not only fails to rein in Trump's Iran war, it also has a provision touted by PM Netanyahu to MANDATE more U.S. defense cooperation with Israel. None of this is in our national security interests. I will vote NO."
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya ran one of Gaza's last hospitals. He refused to leave his patients even after Israel killed his own son in a drone strike. Israel kidnapped him for it. 18 months in detention, tortured and beaten, for the crime of running a hospital. He must be released."
Sen. Jeff Merkley: "The Israeli military has held Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya for 18 months without charges or a trial. His lawyer reports that Dr. Abu Safiya's life is in danger and that he's endured terrible conditions and mistreatment. He must be released immediately."
Rep. Katherine Clark, saying she will support the Massie amendment to block weapons to Israel: "But it is also a chance to say clearly that the status quo is not acceptable. There is no country that should be given a blank check for military aid that is not in line with our interests and values as Americans."
Rep. Delia Ramirez: "It's been a year since Israel government-sanctioned settler violence stole the life of Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet. Congress must stop turning a blind eye to the horrors happening to Palestinians, including to American citizens. We must hold the Israeli government accountable. Not one more dollar, not one more excuse. Let's pass my Block the Bombs Act now!"
Rep. Ro Khanna, following his detention by Israeli settlers: "We're supplying them the M4s that they're using to detain American citizens. We're supplying them the weapons that they're using to kill Palestinian Americans. We're supplying them the weapons that they're using to commit terror on the Palestinian population in the West Bank. It is simply inhumane, and the United States needs to not just sanction these extremist settlers — we need to demand that the IDF start to demolish the outposts in the West Bank."
Rep. Ilhan Omar, in response to Israeli settlers detaining Rep. Ro Khanna: "Absolutely vile. The continued use of our tax dollars to terrorize Palestinians and US citizens is inhumane and unacceptable. Grateful for Ro's courage to show the world what is happening on the ground and for exposing the continued atrocities happening in the West Bank. Israel's genocidal apartheid regime must be stopped."
Rep. Greg Casar, in response to Israeli settlers detaining Rep. Ro Khanna: "Unacceptable. I'm grateful to Rep. Khanna for speaking out and calling attention to the deplorable conditions in the West Bank. I'm glad he is safe. America must stop funding this insanity."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari: "Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been detained by the Israeli government for more than 18 months without charge or trial. He ran one of the few remaining hospitals in Gaza.According to his attorney and human rights organizations, he has been subjected to torture and severe medical neglect while in detention. This is unconscionable and a violation of international law. Healthcare workers should never be targeted or arbitrarily detained. The Trump Administration must use every diplomatic tool available to secure Dr. Abu Safiya's release and ensure that Israel upholds its obligations under international humanitarian law."
Rep. Valerie Foushee: "I am deeply disturbed by the continued detention of prominent Palestinian doctor, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and reports that he has been beaten while being held in Israel without charges. Dr. Safiya must be released immediately to receive the care he needs, and must be allowed to return to Gaza to continue his lifesaving work."
Rep. Don Beyer: "Pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been in Israeli prison for 18 months without charges, and his lawyer reports he has been tortured and his life is at stake. Dr. Safiya must be released immediately to receive the care he needs, and to continue his lifesaving work in Gaza."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: "Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician, has been in Israeli prisons for 18 MONTHS without charge or trial. He's now in life-threatening condition after being tortured and bruised. He must be released immediately, and Congress must stop sending US taxpayer dollars that are making us complicit in these abuses."
Rep. Betty McCollum: "The Israeli government must immediately release the 84 Palestinian health care workers illegally held in Israeli jails, including Dr. Abu Safiya, a pediatrician reportedly near death after months of torture and starvation. This inhumane treatment must stop."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren: "Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician, has been held in an Israeli prison for 18 months with no charges and has reportedly been severely beaten. He needs to be released to get immediate medical care as well as any other prisoners being arbitrarily detained."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "Israel must release pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who has been held without charge for 18 months and now faces an imminent threat to his life from torture. Israel must end the targeting of health workers and the inhumane treatment of Palestinians in arbitrary detention."