“How many Americans have been killed in the West Bank?” is a question people are searching Google for an answer to. What does that say about our “special ally?”
If an American citizen was murdered in France, they would arrest and prosecute the person responsible for the crime. If a soldier in the French military was responsible, the outcry and the blowback would be even more chaotic.
The French government would release a statement or hold a press conference offering condolences to the victim’s family and to assure the United States that Americans’ safety while visiting France is one of their highest priorities.
What has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu done after an American was killed by Israeli settlers or IDF soldiers in the West Bsnk?? Nothing. No one is arrested, there is no statement, no press conference, not even a brief apology.
Nine Americans have been killed in the West Bank so far. An 80-year-old Palestinian-American was recently attacked and beaten bloody by the Israeli military in the West Bank.
A man old enough to remember the founding of Israel was lying in the dirt of a Palestinian village on Thursday evening, blood running from his head, while Israeli soldiers stood over him. Someone off-camera held up his blue United States passport and told the soldiers, in English, that this man was an American citizen and that they were being recorded.
It did not appear to change their behavior.
Khamis Rabee Jabara, 80, was assaulted by Israeli forces in the town of Turmus Ayya, north of Ramallah, on August 6. Anadolu Agency reported that he suffered a head wound, bruises and other injuries after soldiers beat him and fired stun grenades in his direction.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society rushed him to a hospital. Video circulating on social media shows him on the ground with three soldiers nearby and a nephew trying, without success, to get them to respond.
The Times of Israel confirmed that the IDF had not answered its request for comment.
Turmus Ayya is not a random village. Roughly 80% of its residents are U.S. citizens — people from New York, Chicago and Paterson, New Jersey who come back for the summers and bring their kids to learn Arabic.
They fly American flags off their balconies.
The State Department says protecting Americans abroad is its top priority, then does nothing when those Americans are Palestinian.
Resist Hate
The Guardian described the edge of town, where the American flags end and Israeli flags begin, as ground scorched by Molotov cocktails.
The head of the village council, a semi-retired family law attorney who spent 35 years in Anaheim, California, said: only in Palestine will you find American citizens invading American citizens over land.
Before we list American citizens who were killed in the West Bank, we must take a moment to acknowledge the Americans who have survived assaults by Israeli settlers and the IDF in the West Bank.
Tariq survived a brutal beating and subsequent arrest by two Israeli police officers. Kathryn Shihadah told Tariq’s story in a Mondoweiss article suggesting legislation the U.S. Congress could draft in response to Americans getting attacked: “In the summer of 2014, Tariq, then 15 years old, was severely beaten by two Israeli police, then dragged and repeatedly kicked before being arrested for allegedly throwing stones. He adamantly denied the charge, but remained in prison for several days.
In spite of a video of the assault, “showing at least two Israelis methodically delivering blows to Tariq’s limp body,” only one officer was prosecuted. He was found guilty and sentenced to 45 days of community service.”
Every American Killed in the West Bank — and What Washington Did About It
Jabara survived the attack on August 6. Eleven other Americans in the West Bank did not.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and 30 Senate colleagues counted nine Americans killed in the West Bank since January 2022 in a March 2026 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ambassador Mike Huckabee.
Their bottom line: for all nine, nobody has been held accountable. Two more Americans were killed in the West Bank in the years before January 2021. Here are all eleven.
1. Orwa Hammad, 14 (October 2014) — A Louisiana-born teenager shot dead by Israeli troops near Silwad. The army said he was throwing a Molotov cocktail; witnesses said he was among children throwing stones.
U.S. response: The State Department offered condolences and called for a speedy, transparent investigation. Israel’s internal review cleared the soldiers.
2. Mahmoud Shaalan, 16 (February 2016) — Born and raised in Florida, shot five times at a checkpoint near the Beit El settlement while walking to his aunt’s house. He was left bleeding on the road for roughly two and a half hours as an ambulance was blocked.
U.S. response: After a letter from 15 organizations to President Obama, the State Department expressed concern about possible excessive force. No further action followed.
3. Omar Assad, 78 (January 2022) — A grandfather from Jiljilya, detained on a cold night while driving home, blindfolded, bound and gagged, then left on the ground in a building under construction. He died of a stress-induced heart attack.
U.S. response: Washington asked Israel for clarification. Israeli disciplinary measures against commanders followed. No criminal charges.
4. Shireen Abu Akleh, 51 (May 2022) — The Al Jazeera correspondent, one of the most recognizable journalists in the Arab world, was shot in the head in Jenin while wearing a clearly marked PRESS vest.
U.S. response: The State Department concluded Israeli gunfire was likely responsible but found no reason to believe it was intentional. The Justice Department opened an inquiry that has never produced public findings. In 2025, reporting identified the soldier believed to have fired. No charges.
5. Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, 17 (January 2024) — A Louisiana native shot in the head while driving on Highway 60. Israeli police acknowledged that an off-duty officer, a soldier, and a civilian opened fire. His father said his son was executed.
U.S. response: The State Department called for an urgent investigation. Israel promised one and released no findings. His parents were then barred from leaving the West Bank for seven months.
6. Mohammad Ahmed Khdour, 17 (February 2024) — A Florida-born teenager shot while in a car near Biddu, weeks after Abdel Jabbar. Medical sources confirmed that IDF soldiers killed Ahmad Al-Khdour, 19, from Biddu, after shooting him with a live round in the head, while in a car.
U.S. response: Calls for an Israeli investigation. No findings, no charges.
7. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26 (September 2024) — Raised in Seattle, shot in the head by a sniper at an anti-settlement protest in Beita. The IDF called it “indirect and unintentional”; thirteen eyewitnesses and more than 50 videos told a different story.
U.S. response: President Biden called it an accident. Secretary Blinken called it unprovoked and unjustified. The U.S. declined to open its own investigation. Turkish prosecutors opened one instead.
8. Amer Rabee, 14 (April 2025) — From Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Shot roughly eleven times in Turmus Ayya — the same town where Jabara was beaten this week — while picking green almonds, according to the mayor. The IDF called him a terrorist.
U.S. response: The State Department confirmed his death, offered condolences and noted the IDF’s statement. His cousin said Amer thought his passport came with protection.
9. Sayfollah “Saif” Musallet, 20 (July 2025) — A Florida ice cream shop owner visiting family, beaten to death by settlers in Sinjil. Ambulances could not reach the injured for more than two hours.
U.S. response: Ambassador Huckabee called it a criminal and terrorist act and asked Israel to investigate aggressively. No progress has been reported.
10. Khamis Ayyad, 40 (August 2025) — A father of five and former Chicago resident who died of smoke inhalation after settlers torched homes and vehicles in his village of Silwad.
U.S. response: Calls for an Israeli investigation. Nothing since.
11. Nasrallah Abu Siyam, 19 (February 2026) — Born in Philadelphia, shot dead by settlers in Mukhmas during an attack on Palestinian farmers.
U.S. response: The State Department said it was carefully monitoring the situation. Van Hollen and 30 senators demanded a briefing by April 5, 2026.
The Pattern Is the Policy
Eleven Americans. Zero prosecutions.
The senators’ March letter said the quiet part out loud: after their first letter, the State Department responded saying that the United States calls for accountability whenever citizens are harmed abroad.
Those calls, the senators wrote, obviously failed — and it is unclear how many more Americans have to die before anyone takes it seriously and does something.
Van Hollen has been the loudest voice in the Senate on this, leading letters after Musallet’s killing in 2025 and Abu Siyam’s in 2026.
He also called out Benjamin Netanyahu following the arrest of an American college student, who was taken to an Israeli prison known for inhumane conditions and human rights abuses.
Her family says she isnt getting the medication she needs to take daily for a serious medical condition.
He has also pointed out the obvious: The State Department says protecting Americans abroad is its top priority, then does nothing when those Americans are Palestinian.
The State Department told us, without speaking a single word, that they do not see Palestinians as human beings whose lives are worth saving — even if they are citizens of the United States.
Khamis Jabara is 80 years old and alive. That is the only thing separating this week’s story from the eleven that came before it.
