With nothing to lose, Republicans still put America last

Last week, the Senate voted on a resolution would force the State Department to produce a report on Israeli violence in the West Bank. The legislation would require the State Department to report on human rights in countries receiving American security funds within 30 days. If the department fails to produce a report in time, those funds halt automatically. West Bank violence is of particular interest to some lawmakers for good reason. For one, that violence has reached an “all-time high” which “threatens mass atrocities.” Second, the United States has the power to stop it. While West Bank attacks are typically committed by Israeli settlers, Israel’s government enables these crimes. It avoids confronting settlers as a matter of policy and even arms their attacks. That’s why Israeli human rights watchdog B’Tselem characterizes settler attacks as “state violence.” As its largest benefactor, the United States could pressure that state to shape up. This is all the more pressing because Americans are increasingly the victims. Since 2022, at least nine U.S. citizens have been killed in the West Bank. None of the perpetrators have faced accountability. It’s a striking trend: a foreign government, funded and armed by the United States, killing Americans without repercussion. You’d think lawmakers would unanimously be desperate for answers. But you would be wrong. The resolution failed on a 47-51 vote. Democrats, with the sole and unsurprising exception of Sen. John Fetterman of Penns…