In a significant congressional move, US Democratic Representative Ro Khanna is poised to introduce a House resolution on Friday that delivers a comprehensive condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. The resolution represents one of the most specific congressional challenges to Israeli policy to date, explicitly addressing escalating settler violence against Palestinian communities and calling for tangible accountability measures.
The resolution breaks new ground by directly citing senior Israeli officials Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, urging the application of US sanctions authorities against individuals implicated in serious human rights abuses. This marks a departure from previous congressional measures that criticized settlement expansion in broader, less specific terms.
While the resolution is non-binding and wouldn’t become law, it would formally place House lawmakers on record regarding Israeli settlement activities considered illegal under international law. The measure specifically references Israel’s recent sweeping changes to land registration and civil control in West Bank Areas A and B, which Palestinian authorities claim violate the Oslo Accords and advance de facto annexation.
The resolution calls for multiple policy changes, including an immediate halt to home demolitions and a pause on demolition orders across the occupied West Bank. It urges cancellation of land confiscation actions in historically significant areas like Sebastia, while demanding meaningful opportunities for affected residents to challenge such decisions through fair procedures.
Notably, the resolution targets US policy dimensions, highlighting how American double-taxation and foreign tax credit policies may effectively reduce taxes for US citizens living in Israeli settlements, potentially indirectly subsidizing settlement expansion. It urges the administration to utilize available sanctions tools, including the Global Magnitsky Act, against entities and individuals materially supporting settlement expansion or activities linked to demolitions and displacement.
The resolution also calls for a verifiable freeze of development in the critical E1 corridor between East Jerusalem and Maale Adumim settlement, warning that construction in this area would undermine territorial contiguity essential for a viable Palestinian state—a long-standing US foreign policy position supporting the two-state solution.
Khanna has emerged as a leading voice on Palestinian rights since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, occasionally working across party lines with Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who has also criticized US policy regarding the conflict. Their collaboration was visibly demonstrated when they sat together at Wednesday’s State of the Union address, presenting a united front on these issues.